Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1900-06-15
DENTAL DECADENCE.

Europeans Are Alarmed Over Con-
dition Of Their Teeth.
Medical Authsrities Have fer Some
Tine Bees Exercised ~ the
Neglect Of Juvenile
Hygiene.
A writer in the Dentist has raised
a cry Of alarm about the dental de-
cadence of the English people. He
calls attention to the early ravages
which carries is making upon the teeth
of English children, and calls for pre-
ventive measures against q state OF
affairs which he regayls as nation
al calamity" Among TIC children,
whose mouths he examined, he found
s,257 bad teeth.
lie is justly alarmed by this figure
and he calls the attention of all the
schoolmasters and schoolmistresses to
this too-much neglected point of ju-
venile hygiene. The remedy which he
advocates is a dental inspection to be
made regularly and systematically
by skilled dentists in all the public
schoolA
II English teeth ore in danger, there
is no reason to feel more secure con.
corning the future of French teeth.
The French dentists are not less pes
simistic than the director of the Eng
lish review. According to DR.. Pictlfie-
vicz. out of the whole number of pu-
pills of the public schools brought to
his dental clinic IS per cent. are in
need of immediate treatment, and by
adding to these the number of thoxe
who, without being seriously affected,
need careful watching and treatment
sooner or later, the total is brought
ur to Z, per cent. M. Daily estimates
the proportion of children who are in
urgent need Of dental care to be IS
per cent, at least.
A few years ago La Societe de Mede-
cine Pratique did not consider this
question of too little Importance to
occupy its attention, and after a rigid
criticism of the manner in which cor
poreal hygiene is in general comple-
hcnded in the lyceumz it made the
following recommendations:
l. That the pupils of the colleges and
lyceums be required to take the neces-
sary care, morning and night, of their
mouths and teeth.
2. That they be placed in this re-
gard in better practical conditions
than these at present offered them.
3. That they be all examined at the
beginning Of. each quarter (three
nlonths) session by the dentist at
tached to the establishments.
Have those recommendations been
needed? 1t is doubtful, for, generally,
the dentists begin to treat their clients
cihy when it Is too late to save tlem.
Many explanations were given of this
earfiness of dental Impairment among
the children. The blame was laid on
the abuse of sweets, GER
tain drinks-such as cider, and on the
quality Of drinking water Some
spoke of the influence of cerebral IA
tigue. DIR. StilerwOod remarked that
with children who study hard the
teeth deteriorate rapidly after these
children enter school, and nothing
stops the progress of the evil but TAX
ing them from their studies. Accord
ing to Magitot too assiduous applica-
ton Injuries the good development
and preservation of the teeth of the
pupils of the Ecole Pofytechnique. All
that is possible and no one denies the
influence of these auxiliary condi-
lions But the true cause, rest as
cured Of it, is the neglect or ignorance
Of the toothbrush. Many parents, in
Ibis respect, seem to be inspired by
he remark Of Cahno: "Why do peo-
pie wash their hands every day and
iever wash their feet?" Children are
Taught to clean their faces every day:
out how many are unaware until the
age OF reason, and the age of reason
s sometimes late in coming, that the
laily washing Of the mouth and teeth
8 as indispensable as the washing of
he other parts of the body?
On this subject of buccal hygiene,
We must admit the superioritv Of The
negroes OF Africa.
DIR. Haffin, who practices medicine in
CAMERON, estimates that not las
han AZ minute. a dov nc saro.a
in this country n clean;nn
he teeth. At sunrise each morning.
md after each meal, the mouth is |
arefully rinsed. and several times IN
edition the teeth are rnhhad an.,
leansed with dry sand or with tha
tooth-stick." '
This sticl 10 n oo. 81,
hewed MT nth ands pa r. nues lons'