Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-05-20
TRAGEDY OF TEETH.
London Physician Says Common
Method of Cleansing is Hurtful.

| Method of Cleansing is Hurtful.
Our teenth of course, are gradually
disappearing, or at any rate, that is
Whi@ j. happening to the teeth OF civil
lzed man II you want a skull with q
perfect set of teeth for an anatomical
museum YOU must get it from some
aboriginal island; such skulls are hard
lly TO be had in this country, says d
physician in the London Chronicle.
| Two facts Indicate that our teeth
are going; one is that already they
| seldom last out our lifetimes, and the
other is that in many civilized people
| nowadays two of the upper front teeth
those on either side next the central
| palr-are very small, indeed, showing
| that they are on the way to disappear.
ance.
| Nevertheless, in the, present state of
| the human Eace our teeth are Of very
great Importance, and the alarming
fact that the British TOOTH, unlike Brit
Ish commerce., is rapidly on the down
grade has attracted the attention OF
| ail who are interested In the physical
degeneration of our urban population.
| Few people realize that it is well
worth While trying to preserve the
teeth in good condition Yet doctors
are constantly seeing cases of indiges-
ton which are due to imperfect mass
tication by imperfect teeth, and which
are caused when the teeth are arti-
| tlicially supplemented Secondly. the
presence of decaying teeth in the
mouth means the presence of millions
of germs. which are the actual cause
of the decay, and which produce OBJ
jectionable products that are swallow
ed and pass into the blood. There
! is reason to believe that serious i'll
health may be caused i'm this way. And
the third reason is that decaying teeth,
especially in child's mouth. are an
/ open invitation to the tubercle bacilli
which we all swallow occasionally in
milk, and which are agents for evil
unless the milk has been boiled.
The first point, then, is that decayed
! teeth should be attended to by dem
! fist. You could not possibly invest your
money at q higher rate of Interest
/ than in getting a bad tooth made
4 sound; and so skillful has dentistry
became that tooth has to be very fur
4 gone before skilled operator finds It
necessary to extract it. Indeed, we
lose our teeth nowadays by our own
fault, and that alone.
j And the second point is that tho
teeth should be regularly cleaned. We
1 have not yet reached, in this country
the pitch of cleanliness of the high
caste Hindu. who will not speak to
| you in the morning until he has clean
ed his teeth. But, as matter Of fast
many of us clean our teeth only
once a day, and at the wrong time. II
you are going to clean your teeth only
once q day the right time to do 1t is at
night Obviously this must be so
since there is little sense in leaving the
debris of food in ones mouth al
night and then removing 1t in the
morning. The greater part of tooth
destruction occurs at night, not only
because people do not clean their teetl
at the right time, but also because
no saliva is secreted at night, ane
therefore the acid matter produced by
bacteria is not neutralized and diluted
as 1t is in the daytime, but is free t.
dissolve away the enamel.
Brushing the teeth with al transverse
motion merely drives everything be
tween them. e., just where it ough
not to be. The motion should be III
and down. Many people harm theil
teeth and wear away the enamel bs
using too hard a brush. No parent i
doing the full measure of his duty wht
does not continually hammer at hi
children in this matter, or who allows
them to go about with decayed teeth
The saving in dentists bills may emf
, in much bigger Doctors bill later.