Iron County register., 1904-06-09
CARE OF SOLDIERS TEETH.
Necessary Precaution to Keep the Men
in Good Health and Fight
ing Condition.

After much study, the British war OIL
fee has appointed eight dental sur
geons who are to aid in maintaining |
the courage and the temper of the ar
N.Y." Interesting as is the announce
ment, England is considerably behind |
the United States in learning the i'm
portance of caring for soldiers teeth |
In the first place states the New |
York Times, We have had these impor-
tant adjuncts to the medical corps since |
Februtry 2. 1901, when the law official |
ly creating them was passed. The law
stipulated that there should be one den |
tist for. every 1000 soldiers and Off
GERS. AS the law has been in force for
over three years, and the wisdom of its
passage has become daily more mani
fest, the limit of the number Of dentists
allowed for the army is already nearly
reached.
In this country secondary consid-
Grafton, quite naturally following the
first, has bobbed up-an effort on the
part of the dentists to be admitted into
the army as commissioned officers. At
the present time they are merely legal
lied aids to the medical corps under
the jurisdiction of the army surgeons.
When Gen. Miles signed the order
| for the appointment of dentists it had
| been discovered that however well the
natives Of the Philippines and Cuba
preserved their teeth in warm climates
our soldiers suffered severely. AS soon
as a regiment reached the tropics its
officers and men began to have trouble
| with their teeth.
The trouble, however, was the re-
suit of intestinal disorders. The med
ical men who We're behind the bill
creating the dentists understood this,
and useful as the dentists are to any
army in any land, they have proved
especially so to American soldiers, be-
cause of the new possessions and the
physical ailments following upon their
arrival there.
While the law stipulated that not
more than one dentist for every 1000
soldiers should be appointed, it allowed
them to be sent in whatever quota was
deemed necessary to whatever points
needed them most. AS result we now
have in Cuba and the Philippines a
regular army of scientists, so large as
to put to shame the recent appoint
ment of eight tooth doctors of the
United Kingdom.
So important is this army depart
ment that it seems surprising how i
has remained to be established unit
so recent date. Army officers declare
with one voice that there is no sucf
thing as a courageous fighting force
with bad teeth, but it is a solemn trutf
to which the powers of the world seen
just waking up.
81 think that most people viii
J agree" said an army surgeon the 9th
er day, that dyspepsia is not condu
Give to gallantry and dash. With you
heart beating violently, your head il
whirl and your stomach affected a
/ by the heaving sea- you cannot expec
your nerves to be in condition prope
| for successful action in modern war
fare. For that a man must be abso
, lutely fit. If the soldiers teeth ar
| bad, and he is inclined to dyspepsia i
, peace and comfort, what will he b
when his meals are rough and irregr
, lar? Unless 'molars' and grinders al
in good order, it must mean that bt
. fore long the man will be permanent
n on the sick list.
GAS a matte- of fact, it is quite al
palling how many would-be recruit
d have to be refused because Of the cor
4 dition of their teeth, and the war otIic
in this country, as well as the one
, England, is to be congratulated upo
;, the steps it is taking to insure goo
teeth in soldiers. The common adaG
NO foot, no horse might well be pa
- APPRAISED into no teeth, no man
"While not abreast of us in the ma
ter of army dentists, Great Britain
'' a step in advance of us in that it
as | understand, going to the founta
= head in the matter, and is trying to el
force law which requires the exam
Ii nation Of the teeth of boys in boardir
- schools. In teeth, as IN eVerytnll
u else, the boy is the father of the ma
A generation bred from dyspepti
means people whose shattered const
Ia tutions will crowd our hospitals al
asylums. The strain of modern eXis
l. ence is often put down as the SO
~ cause of modern lunacy. 1t is, !
~ doubt, a contributing factor, but |
e. lieve very much of it is due to neglec
ed teeth, accentuated in two or thr
'e generations.
n 81 attribute vast percentage of t
Id deterioration in the national physiq
CT in England, about which so much h
been said, to bad teeth. Were / null
en millionaire I would found more dent
ID hospitals instead of libraries"