The Colorado statesman., 1914-11-28
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Copyright. 1914, by A. S. Gray)
RIGGS DISEASE AND VITALITY.


decay, comes one very closely asso-
ciated with it, known in dental liter
ature as periodontitis, better known as
pyorrhoea alveolorais, or Riggs dis
ease. This disease, characterized by
a more or less general infection of
the membranes within the tooth sock
ct, is indicated by a slight tenderness
during mastication, looseness of the
teeth and pulp sensitiveness, or even
pain on the ingestion of hot or cold
drinks because of the exposure of the
cementum, the external shell of the
root. The gum is swollen and soft,
the tooth may be raised in it's socket,
and pressure brings relief. There is
a discharge of pus from between the
tooth and gum on pressure, the teeth
become loose, and, in course of time
as the, disease progresses and the al
veolar process (the tooth socket) is
destroyed, they fall out.
Efficient mastication is, of course,
impossible; hence not only is food
bolted partly chewed and more or less
mixed with pus, but the tissues in
and around the teeth are deprived of
exercise necessary to give them an
adequate blood supply and they are
thereby rendered less resistant to at
tack. Tooth after tooth is involved
and there is established another of
those numerous vicious cycles that
continually operate to drag us down.
AS in so many diseases there is a
great diversity of opinion as to its
cause. 1t sometimes follows severe
fever and many consider it the result
of low vitality and feeble circulation,
the result of q gouty diathesis (phy-
steal habit, or of chronic rheumatism;
but the majority opinion appears to
be that the immediate cause of the
disease is the accumulation of irritant
material in the pocket around the
tooth.
The general bacteriology of the dis
ease is by no means confined to one
group of organisms, and so far as is
known no specific micro organism has
been isolated; the streptococcus, pneu-
mococcus, staphlycoccus and others
of the bacillary type predominate.
Pyorrhoea is not new disease; it
was recognized by the early investi-
gators, but it has become more prev
alept during the last so years and it is
the rule rather than the exception to
find patients with more or less perio-
dontitis. The disease is not confined
to man, but is also extremely preva-
lent among domestic animals.
A class of serious disorders has long
To-. IL.
triton could be named as the imme-
diate antecedent in the case and in
which it has vaguely been assumed
that the diet must be at fault. Prob
ably the most generally familiar of
these diseases is scurvy. Scurvy has
always been associated with a diet
containing an excess of salted, smoked,
or canned foodstuff, monotonous diet
devoid of fresh vegetables such as cab
bage, onions, carrots, potatoes and
the like. AS the result of experience,
these fresh vegetables have been cred
tied with some power to ward off or at
last to mitigate the disease, and lines
and lemons are universally recognized
as anti-scorbutics (scurvy preven-
tives).
Victims of scurvy suffer from severe
physical exhaustion, soreness of the
gums and looseness of the teeth, and,
of course, this opens the way to bacte-
rial invasion and periodontitis. When
we note that, as all observers agree,
improvement or intensifcation of the
mouth diseases synchronizes with the
rise and fall of general health in the
individual, it is reasonable to suspect
that the disease is not a strictly local
infection resulting from local irrita-
tion or injury. 1t does not come from
injuries received in chewing grit and
sand or from soft food accommodating
about the teeth; it comes as the re-
suit of lowered vitality from the lack
of those organic compounds other than
the proteins which Casimir Funk and
other Investigators prove to be pres
ent in fresh vegetables and in lime
and other juices, small quantities of
which are absolutely essential to nor
NAL growth and continued health. The
name given these compounds by Funk
is well chosen in view of its root
meaning: Vitamines. An anime" is
nitrogenous compound of a certain
type, and vitamine is obviously such
a nitrogenous compound absolutely
necessary to vitality.
The principles of evolution are uni
versal and constantly at work, even
in the minds of men, and we are slow
ly evolving out of the old idea of
cause" and cure" The investiga-
tions of Soddy in the chemistry of the
radio-elements, of Twort, Penfold,
Nine. Henri and others in the muta-
tions of bacteria, make it quite clear
that If medicine ever takes a place
among the sciences it can come only
as the result of a general habit of
mind such as is found in the advanced
sciences. In astronomy and in physics