The leader., 1903-07-01
CHEWING AND DIGESTION.
lfastication and InsaIivation of Food
Said to BE Not Essential
to Assimilation.

If my Interpretation of the Lancet
article is correct, it would imply that
children suffer from impoverished
nutrition" because of carries and in
ability to masticate food; this presen-
tation should be received with caution,
states writer in the Philadelphia
Medical Journal. The facts are that
with modern culinary methods, Meth
er perfect tooth mastication nor
mouth insalivation are indispensable
parts of the digestive process. True 1t
is that free and comfortable mastlca-
ton of food contributes greatly to the
pleasures of taste and ingestlon,
and to that extent favors stomach
digestion, but mouth masticat1on is an
office which can be delegated, as is
often done, not only without injury
but with decided benefit. For the
maceration of foods in the mouth, wa
ter and other customary drinks may
be substituted for saliva, without APP
probable deAriment; in many mouth
conditions with advantage for the
stomach.
That saliva in the initial stages OF
digestion converts starch into sugar
might have been matter of more con-
sideration before sugar entered so
largely into foods and drinks, as at
present. Now, with constant over
supply of saccharines, saliva, fire.
quently vftiated and infected, as 1t is
poured into the mouth direct secre-
ton by the salivary glands might, In
many mouth conditions, give place to
water in some form with advantage.
Water should be regarded not simply
as a food adjuvant and dlluent to
the circulation, but as an integral part
of nutritfon-as necessary to digestion
as to tissue displacement. or to the
maintenance of life. In this condition
it seems reasonable to predict that
the student of dietetics must soon
broaden his field from the considera-
ton of FOODS in their analytlcal ultl-
mates to embrace other and perhaps
more important matters in connection
with their structural compounds. The
demands Of tissue building are such
that we seem compelled to accept that
the real value of typical foods is de-
pendent not so much on their ultimate
chemical elements as on the value of
the substance in its entirety, before
the breaking up of the aqueous, vital
lied compound cells.
While fully aware that this may seem
In conflict with the accepted physiol-
ogy of digestion, it is a theory which
IS found to be in accord with everyday
clinical experience and with conditions
vet to be considered. The Indifference
of the stomach to mouth mastication
and insalivation is clearly expressed
in numberless cases of endentulous
mouths; in these the processes of d.
gestion and assimilation go forward
regardless of tooth mastication, and
with no apparent obstruction or de-
rangement, and the remaining oral
tissues in all cases will be found in
perfect condition of health. twill yet
be demonstrated that the real cause
of general disease emanating from
mouth and teeth is due neither to
dental carries nor disability of mas
tication, but to the constant and per-
petual mingling of septic matter
with foods and drinks. and the inhala-
ton OF toxic carnations from the per-
sistent and abiding infection in mouths
containing natural teeth