Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-12-04
copyright. 1914. by A. S. Gray)
PERSONAL RESISTANCE TO DE-
CAY.

Whether the reaction Of the saliva is
acid or alkaline has been under dis
cussion for century, and men still
differ so widely and SO many authori-
ties may be found on either side that
the subject is involved in confusion.
Without doubt the truth is that the
saliva is very feebly alkaline and
readily changes either to acid or al
kaline with the establishment of va
rious constitutional conditions. No
two individuals can possibly be exact
ly alike and the constitution of the
mouth secretions must vary according
to time, place and the predominance of
one or more of the forms of the many
species of heterogeneous known to
be found in the mouth; also it must
vary in accordance with the individual
state of health and mind, SO that
physiological saliva, with the biochem-
zeal elements in state of equilibrium,
is probably very rare.
If confusion exists concerning so
comparatively simple matter as the
reaction of the saliva, it is reasonable
to expect difference of opinion in re-
gard to so worldwide and vague a dis
ease as carries, or tooth decay, and it's
numerous allied conditions. Because
they are so very closely identified the
same general confusion exists with
reference to the subject of decay of
the teeth as pertains to the reaction of
the saliva. Hence, one authority finds
carries due to acidity and another to
Rkalinity; another declares it to be
caused by the absence of a certain
element, and still another finds it is
caused by the presence of that same
element
The idea that some teeth are hard
and resistant to disease and some soft
and easily destroyed was very gener-
ally believed by the dental profession
until the Investigations Of DR.. G. V.
Black few years ago cleared the sub
iect. He demonstrated that there is
actually no material difference in the
hardness of teeth and that the quality
Of hardness or Of softness Of the
teeth has no specific connection with
their tendency to decay. But the idea
that the hardness or softness is due
to the amount Of calcium salts they
contain and that hardness endows
them with decay-resisting qualities is
still firmly fixed in the public mind.
In a previous article l said that
science does not consist in simply ac-
cumulating facts, but in interpreting
facts, and this applies with peculiar
force to the subject of tooth decay and
Its allied conditions.
When the teeth of children are seen
TO be decaying badly the general inter
probation is that they are soft and
poorly calcified. IT, on the other hand,
the children happen to grow up to ma
turity without developing decay of the
teeth the, Interpretation is that the
teeth are hard and firm and therefore
resist decay. Then it has been gen
orally observed that during pregnancy
and lactation the teeth Of women suf-
ter more from carries than during other
an experience that it gave birth to an
old saying: "a tooth for every child"
1t is generally held that the teeth
Of the mother are robbed of the cal
cium salts to build up the bones Of
the unborn infant, but this is one Of
those half truths that are so confus-
ing and misleading.
Carries is essentially a disease of
childhood and childhood has epigram-
matically and most truly been desig-
mated as IAN extra hazardous occu-
patton" Child bearing is an extra
hazardous occupation. too; and SO.
measured by its mortality, is modern
business hazardous. We have already
noted that typhoid and other fevers
frequently and quickly destroy teeth,
and so does excessive physical work.
1t is only within the last few years
with the dawning understanding OF
the action Of catalyzers, the engines
and the ductless glands of our bodies
and more especially since Funks dem
onstration of the vitamines and their
influence on the hormones of the duct
less glands-the governors of our bod
ies-that the matter begins to clear
We begin to suspect that it is not
solely the abstraction of the phosphor
US, the calcium, the magnesium, the
carbon, the iron and the fiuorine from
our food that is the cause of the
universal prevalence of tooth and gen
eral physical decay. We begin t.
suspect that the loss of that part o.
the eternal energy by which those ele
ments are normally welded into ant
held in the plants, our ultimate source
of life, precipitates these trouble,
upon us. We know that animals cal
be starved on physiological combina
tions" of the pure salts of these ele
ments, and we know that they thriv,
on the natural constituents of tn
same elements.
With the single exception of tn,
tides, the movements of which ar
connected with the moon and the re
tation of the earth on ifs avis ever