Los Angeles herald., 1910-07-31
CARE OF THE TEETH


giene the first is proper food. In this
age of cooking, softened foods. 'paps,"
tend to do away with the function OF
the teeth, to lessen their blood-supply
and that of the gums, through lack of
normal exercise. and thus to pave the
way for their early loss The inges-
ton of hard foods, which require thor
ough chewing before they can be swal-
lowed and thus give vigorous exercise
to the teeth, is to be recommended.
In this class are pilot biscuit, hard
tack, nuts (peanuts particularly, hard
toast, bread crust, big hominy. 1t must
be remembered that some teeth of
fragile kind may be broken on hard
tack: therefore, this Is to be followed
with discretion. If one must chew
something, aside from food, let him
chew licorice stick or slippery elm, as
gum does not offer sufficient resistance.
By the way, the eating of hard, dry
foods Is a great aid to digestion, as
they induce a free flow of saliva and
have to be thoroughly insalivated be-
fore they can be swallowed, while soft
pappy foods can be swallowed at once
without the salvation which would
make them more digestible.
Leaving the back to nature" method
of caring for the teeth by proper diet,
let us take up the active forms of in
reference with those processes which
lead to disease. From the first appear
ance of the teeth they should be daily
polished, first with cotton swab and
later with a small paint brush. When
all the temporary teeth have appeared,
the full technique of mouth cleansing
should be inaugurated. The temporary
teeth require attention for the same
reason as the permanent ones, with the
added one that If they are lost early, or
before the time for the eruption of the
lie
through which the second teeth may
come, and we have resulting irregu-
larity of the second teeth. Here we
take occasion again to lay stress on the
preservation of the first or 9Th year
molars because of their influence on the
regularity of the other teeth and the
proper contour of the face and because
they are the only grinders between
the ages of and years.
In caring for the teeth a powder like
precipitated chalk is used for brushing.
The bristles at the upper end of the
brush should project beyond the others.
OF great Importance is the mode of
brushing. The method of cross brush
ing once in vogue is now obsolete. The
proper methods to pursue Is that OF
brushing the upper gums and teeth
from above downward, the lower from
below upward. In this way the bristles
are pressed into the interstices be-
tween the teeth, fragments of food are
swept out, and the gum is massaged in
a way to promote it's nutrition. By
keeping the teeth we'll polished we min
imize the tendency to deposition of
tartar, one cause of Riggs disease.
Not only the external aspect but also
the internal surface of the teeth and
gums must be brushed.
The teeth should be cleaned after
each meal to insure a perfectly sani-
tary condition. If they cannot be
cleansed that often it should be done
at least once a day, and that should
be at bedtime, because being at rest
during sleep allows fermentation and
all sorts of destruction to go on un-
disturbed. This accounts for the bad
taste and foul breath so commonly mo-
ticed the first thing in the morning. 1t
should be a rule to see the dentist
twice a year: If possible, oftener. He
will give the necessary advice and
teaching. He will look after needed
scaling off of tartar deposits, filling OF
cavities and removal of teeth or roots
which require such treatment.
The teeth should not be employed
to crack nuts, cut thread or perform
other such acts as are more properly
done with nut-crackers, scissors, etc.
These acts cause injury to the enamel
and pave the way for carries and ul-
innate destruction of the teeth. Tooth
picks injudiciously used for the pur-
pose of removing foreign particles from
between the teeth are capable OF doing
much harm; besides, the same thing Is
better accomplished with other means.
With proper care from early child
hood the teeth should last as long as
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