The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1894-09-21
THE POOR MODERN TOOTH.
One Authority Says Vegetable Eaters Have
WORSE Teeth Than Meat Eaters.

/
| One Authority Says Vegetable Eaters Havo1
Worse Teeth Than Meat Eaters.
A correspondent sends this interest-I
ing letter on the subject of teeth: 'In7
a letter to Nature on The Teeth and
! Civilization the writer advances a
theory to account for the great preva-
lence of decay of the teeth at the
| present day. and concludes that DR..
| Wilberforce Smiths Investigations
show that the ancients enjoyed per-
feet set of teeth till advanced years,
and modern savages enjoy the same
blessing
Il have not had the opportunity of
seeing DIR. Wilberforce Smiths commu-
nication, but the number of cases eX-
amined in this particular instance ten
Sioux lndians) would hardly be suffi-
clent to draw conclusions from; and
even in these ten cases all the teeth
were not examined. / think, however,
! it has been sufficiently proved by sew
eral careful Investigations that carries
t, of the teeth is not purely modern
disease and is not entirely confined to
civilized races. My father, in a COM
munication to the Chronological soci-
suits of an inquiry extending over
more than ten years, in which he eX-
| amined over 1000 skulls, including all
the available collections in Great
Britain, and his conclusions as to the
prevalence of dental carries differ very
considerably from those of the writer
of this letter.
among thirty-six skulls of ancient
Egyptians he found carries in fifteen
'(41.66 per cent?, in twenty-six Anglo
Saxon skulls he found twelve cases
Q5.7S per cent?, among 143 skulls of
Recommendations there were forty-one
cases (2S.67 per cent?, while among
forty-four miscellaneous skulls of an
cient Britons 2045 per cent. showed
carious teeth. Several other collections
gave similar results.
again, with regard to savage races,
among the Tasmanians 27.7 per cent. of
carries was found, among native Aus
tralians 20.45 per cent, among East
African skulls 24.24 per cent, and
among those of West African natives
1896. Similar results were obtained
on the examination of skulls of many
other races, but think L have quoted
figures sufficient to prove that carries is
not confined to civilized races or to
modern times.
''It is quite comprehensive that ex-
cessive nerve strain, especially by
affecting vascular supply, may lead to
imperfect nutrition during the develop
ment of the teeth, and we know that
the diseases of early childhood have
very marked effect upon tooth struc-
ture, indicated by the ridged and de-
fective teeth so frequently seen, and it
seems quite possible that too early
stimulus of the brain in childhood may
have similar effect on forming teeth.
1t is very difficult, however, to UNDER
stand how nerve strain can have any
direct effect upon fully formed teeth,
and we should, l think, look for the
explanation of the cases referred to in
some vitiated condition of the fluids of
the mouth, caused by the depressed
condition of health so common among
hospital nurses.
There is little doubt that an OPEN
air life and healthy surroundings en-
courage the formation of sound teeth
in a sound body; but 1 cannot but
think that the principal cause of carries
must be looked for in the food. 1t is
plainly shown by many investigators,
and in the paper above referred to,
that carries is rare among
peoples who subsist principally
upon animal food; the Esquimaux
showed, among siXty-nine skulls only
two cases of carries, and the largest
amount of disease was found among
those races who lived upon a mixed or
exclusively vegetable diet. These re-
suits are, of course, easily understood
under the more accurate knowledge
which we now possess of the immedi-
ate cause of dental carries.
CAS- to the relative frequency with
which different teeth are affected,
think statistics plainly show that it is
the first molar tooth of the lower jaw
which is most prone to decay of any
tooth in the series, and most authori-
ties consider the second lower molar as
the next in order; with these two ex-
ceptions, the upper are more frequently
diseased than the lower teeth. This
would, however, not affect the argu-
ment, as the lower molars are of course
also supplied by the fifth nerve.
structural defects, due to inherited
weakness or imperfect nutrition dur
ing the development of the teeth, COM
bined with the use of soft cooked food,
which is long retained in contact with
them, and is of nature eminently
suitable for fermentation, give us,
think, the principal factors of decay
among civilized races.
''While allowing the influence of
nerve strain in. early childhood, and as
a factor in hereditary transmission of
detective structure, fail to see how it
can influence teeth already formed."-
Nature.
Tea TablOids.
These are a boon to travellers. The
tea leaf is ground up to powder. The
stems of the leaf, the coarser part, are
+hroyrn aUav The finer mora aro-