The Washington bee., 1899-06-17
A TOOTHLESS AGE.
DENTIST SAYS IT Is NEAR AT HAND
FOR CIVILIZED NATIONS.

Thousands Wearing Artificial Tseth-Due
to the Food We Eat and Improper
Care of Teeth-The Civilized Lower jaw
Getting Too Small for Proper Number.
That ''toothless age" age is near al
hand for this country, if not, indeed
for the entire civilized world, is the
theory of a dentist of prominence.
I'VE are becoming tOOthless people,
and that very fast" says he.
ITO begin with, | must make this
bold statement, We are becoming a
toOthleSs people, For otherwise how
can we account for the fact Mat thou
sands of people to-day are wearing ar
ticial teeth, and there are as many
thousands who would wear them if
they could afford to buy them? Look
At our little children at the age of two;
their teeth are already decayed. Our
girls at the age of fourteen and sixteen
have beautiful teeth indeed, but do not
be deceived. in many instances they
are artificial Our mothers and faith
ers at the age of forty or fifty cannot
boast Of having many Soun1 teeth.
Now, when you consider how much
acute suffering and pain these people
go through, how many sleepless nights
and restless days they pass before
they arrive at that happy poment
when they have gotten rid of their
own teeth and can wear artificial ones
instead, You will naturally ask your
self the question, Has the Creator
given us these organs for temporary
use and with the intention of intiicting
suffering upon usY No, they were
given US to last us through life. If
we do lose them prematurely and il
we do suffer excruciating pain while
we have them, il is due to our own
carelessness, negligence and ignorance
of the first principles of hygiene which
govern the preservation of the teeth
and mouth"
Il can add to these statements: 1t
is not realized how the teeth are going
in this generation. 1t is due to the
food we eat. To the artificial conditions
of the life of to-day, to the lack of care
and the attention people give to their
months.
Now here is case in point Ihe
toothpick is not considered proper in
fashionable society after meals, and
floss silk is also, never used. Yet
both of these, if people would only
realize it, are good things. After eat
ing particles of food are entrapped
between the teeth. The toothpick or
floss silk will carry them away But
they remain, the particles of food de-
compose and an acid is formed which
attacks the enamel and finally COM
bines with the salts of the teeth to de-
stroy them.
Teeth do not last as long as they
used to. My experience has taught
me that of men and women from fifty
to sixty years of age from sixty to sew
enty-fiTe per cent. now have artificial
teeth This statement seems aStOund-
ing, but it is nevertheless true There
is dental science enough to preserve
them, but people will not give dentis-
try chance. They let them go, and a
minute vegetable organism collects up
on them. The enamel goes away, and
the dentine (the inside coating) is laid
bare: the dentine is attacked, and the
nerves and the blood vessels are eX-
posed: the nerves are devitaliZed and
the teeth die"
1t is this dentists theory that one
great reason of the cOuntry's progress
toward ''tOOthless age" is due to
the lack of care of the temporary
teeth of children. If these temporary
teeth are bad, he says, the permanent
teeth will be weakened. And yet very
little attention is paid to child
first teeth.
Thumb or finger sucking is a bad
habit for children" said the Doctor.
BY this habit the lower teeth are
forced inward, and the upper outward.
Mouth breathing also produces irregu-
larity of the teeth. The most effective
way of breaking this habit is that en-
plOyed by the Indian mother, who
bandageS the mouth of the child. and,
in that way forces it to breathe
through the nostrilS, or not at ALL
Another important tendency the Doc
tor says he has frequently observed is
that the lower Jaw is becoming more
and more contracted. 1t is now, he
says. frequently necessary to remove
some of the maiden teeth. The mod
ern jaw. brought about through mod
ern considerations Of living. cannot ac-
commOdate all the teeth nature gives
US. Hence the teeth, besides being
poorer year by year, are gradually and
steadily getting to point where they
will be fewer.
whenever there is decomposition of
organic matter" the dentist declared.
"innumerable colonies of microbes,
the germs of disease, are generated.
Through mouth thus infected fresh
food is daily taken, and during the
process of mastication it is naturally
mingled with the decayed matter in
the mouth and then is passed into the
stomach for digestion. Is it astonish-
ing then why one suffers from indiges-
tion or other diseases?
"GoOd health demands thorough di-
gestion, thorough digestion demands
thorough mastication. thorough masti-
cation demands sound and healthy
teeth"
HS Know Reiter,