The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-02-09
CARE OF cHlLDRENs TEETH.
Decay Is Very Apt to Attack the Teeth
When the Child Is Young.

Decay Is Very Apt to Attack the Teeth
When the Child Is Young.
| There is no reason why the appearance of
| the teeth should cause any serious disar-
rangement of the system, but owing to
some neglect of the general laws of health
the Slight fever and laxativeness which at
tends infantile teething becomes aggra-
waited into serious disease. The first teeth
that appear are the two upper or two lower
| incisors, after these the teeth on either
side, then the molars, and usually before
the child is two years old, and last of all,
the canine teeth. Thechild now has twenty
teeth. These should be preserved by wash
ing them carefully after eating from the
time they first appear.
When the little one is two years old the
nurse may begin to use soft brush.
| Should there be any appearance of decay in
these teeth the child should be taken to a
dentist, who will put in a soft temporary
filing, which is done SO easily that it Will
cause no special inconvenience to the child,
and will save it from that most excruciat-
ing pain of childhood-the toothache. 1t
will also insure the permanent teeth COM
ing in in a satisfactory manner, providing
the bodily health remains good. 1t is of
.
temporary teeth be retained in the gum, as
all intelligent dentists agree, until the
permanent teeth appear. The permanent
teeth absorb the roots of the temporary
teeth and push them out as they advance
In this way all the teeth, if kept sound and
filled if necessary, will fall out at their
proper time with little or no pain or loss OF
blood.
The writer has seen child take out its
canine teeth with it's fingers. The teeth
were as sound as pearls, but the roots had
been completely absorbed by the perma-
nent teeth which appeared beneath them.
The first permanent teeth to appear in
child's mouth come in about the sixth year
back of the temporary teeth. They do not
displace any other teeth and are sometimes
taken for temporary teeth and neglected.
Important as it is to save temporary teeth,
it is doubly important to save these per-
manent molars, as they are intended to
last during a lifetime, and slight decay
during childhood progresses far more rap
idly than it does in later life when the
tooth has become more hardened.
1t is far more necessary that the teeth
should be properly brushed in childhood
than in later life, because at the time the
permanent teeth are taking the place of
the temporary teeth the fluids of the mouth
are of an acid nature and the enamel and
dentine have not become hardened. There
fore, decay is much more rapid and more
liable to occur. 1t is a cruelty to little
child to neglect its teeth so long as to make
a severe dental operation upon them neces-
sary. though a good dentist, who knows
his business, will kill the nerve Of a tenn
porary tooth before he will extract it.
The eight molars of double teeth Of in
fancy are usually retained until the child
is about eleven years old, though they often
come out before The use of good tooth
picks or of dental silk, to clean out the par
ticles of food between the teeth, is a neces-
sity to their proper care. The particles of
food left between the teeth become putri-
fed in few hours in the temperature of
the mouth, so that the need for use of
the toothbrush vigorously is at once appar-
ent.
A toothbrush should be stiff enough to
do its work well, but not SO stiff and harsh |
as to injure the gums. Most of the sapona-
ceous powders sold are excellent, because |
soap destroys the animalcul8, which are |
very likely to exist in purified matter |
about the teeth In case a simple powder |
of charcoal or of chalk or orris root is used, |
all of which are excellent, the teeth should |
be brushed at least once a week with white |
CASTLE soap, but not oftener as the use of |
pure soap too frequently tends to turn the |
enamel yellow.
A well tried and excellent tooth powder |
is made of four parts of powdered chalk, |
two parts of orris root and one part of |
powdered camphor. A mixture of honey
and powdered charcoal is an excellent old |
fashioned tooth powder. A few drops of |
tincture of myrrh in a tumbler Of water
makes the best and most refreshing tooth !
wash that can be had. 1t is certainly
worth while, on the ground Of general !
health, if not for many other most excel
lent reasons, to take the most dainty care
of the teeth. Diphtheria, of all sporadic
diseases, is believed by some of our best
authorities to arise from the foul germs
produced by decaying teeth.-New York
Tribune.