The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-22
Wisdom Teeth
Exception and
Not the Rule
Changes in Diet as Race Ad-
vances Make Last MOlars
Scarce.
ny WILLIAM BRADY, M. d.


teeth are becoming scarcer and scarcer
with the process OF the suns. Actual
tabulation Of thousands of individuals |
shows that ~ per cent. Of adults over |
% years Of age lack from one to all
four OF the third molars.
A mere collection OF scientific data |
like this signifies little to the layman
perhaps. 1t means a great deal to the
scientist. however. for It indicates the
line of progress OF evolution in a very
definite way. 1t shows with startling
conviction that we are evoluting at a
rapid rate and that the dentist Of the
future bids fair to degenerate into a
mere plate merchant IL the dietetic
habits OF the race are not radically
changed.
Among the different races at present
inhabiting the world there is a marked
variation in the relative prominence
OF the jaws. What is known az Cam
per's angle-the angle made by the
junction Of the face line with the Jaw
line-is an acute angle in the lower
ra- and a right angle in the typical
profile Of the white race.
In numerous individuals, however,
h angle of jaw and face lines In
obtuse-the jaw recedes behind the
vertical, and in. these individuals the
wisdom teeth are likely to be missing.
The jaw development il insufficient to
Civ room for the last molars. Very
frequently such IN interrupted wisdom
tooth causes a lot Of trouble In the
shape OF inveterate facial neuralgia.
A X-ray photograph OF the Jaw will
demonstrate the impacted or buried
molar. and there is no surcease for the
unlucky victim until "A dentist or sur
geon cuts down through the gum,
chisels out the underlying bone. fishes
around with gimlets and hooks and
lifts the sulking molar from its bony
sepulchre,
When the typical profles Of the DIFF
ferent races OF man are compared It
Will he noticed hat the Malay has the
most prominent jaw and the lowest or
NEST receding frontal eminence: next
comes tn. African: then the Mon
golian. and last the Caucasian. While
the facial angle steadily approaches
the perfect right angle profile Of the
Apollo Belvidere or Antinous head, the
brow angle or frontal eminence be-
comes more and more prominent, I'M
ii, in the perfect Caucasian profile the
brow angle, too, ~approximates a right
angle.
But the prominence OF the jaws de-
ponds directly upon function-that il,
the dietetlc habits OF the race. The
prominence OF the brow is little II
at all Influenced by f~unction-that Is,
mental capacity. for this brain cell
function is not a matter of muscular
development. and therefore does not
materially influence the bony contour
of the skull. Rather, the brow ap-
pears more or less prominent in
versely in relation with the promi-
hence Of the jaw.
The lower races, all OF them, have
depended largely or entirely upon a
vegetarian diet for s~ustenance. while
the white race has substituted meat,
which requires little mastication. and
prepared OF refined foods, which re-
quire none, for the natural foods. OF
course. the strength and development
OF an organ is determined by its use.
The jaw of the white man Is retro
grading because he is using it less
and less. His food is being pre-mas-
ticated for him by machinery. The
extraneous matters are being removed
before the food is served, thus saving
his teeth a great deal of hard work.
His staff OF life Is supplied in a form
which Is scarcely worth while chew
ing, It is so fine and soft-the ex-
ternal. mineral bearing coat Of the
wheat kernel is shelled off in the mill
ing OF the grain.
Many things are charged against
denaturized bread. Even the mys-
terry OF lancer has been explained by
some theorists by saying that the dis
ease is due to mineral starvation from
the universal use OF refined white
-four in place OF the whole wheat -four
OF our ancestors. The tendency Of
the teeth to decay is also laid up
against denaturized bread-the teeth
get neither sufficient mineral nutri-
ment through the blood nor sufficient
work in mastication. Anamia, neu-
rasthenia, weak feet Calling arches
and fiat feet), faulty elimination and
other common ailments are attributed
to the same defect OF diet. And for
these latter conditions, at any rate,
there Is some show Of reason for the
charge.
Take, fOT instance, sugar. Refined
white sugar contains about l-400th as
much mineral salts as brown sugar or
the sugar cane itself does. People
have a notion that sugar is bad for
children, and especially bad for chill
dren's teeth. Possibly refined white
sugar Is. In the South the physicians
find shat p~ickaninnies, who prac-
t.cally i've on sugar cane in season
have the best Of teeth-but there
again the mineral matter of the suga
cane may make all the difference.
Against this idea of mineral starva.
ton il is stoutly maintained by equally
good psychologists that, even II "breat
and butter and sugar on is by No
means the nOurishing thing 1t used I,
be. still we get all and more minera'
matter than we can assimilate in such
foods as potatoes, celery, lettuce, cab,
'hage, and especially milk and cheese
Cnquestionably these articles are rich
in mineral salts-lime, sodium, potas
Eium, iron, &c.-but il liz not merely &
question of the quantity OF minera
Clements in the diet; II is also a ques
ton of the form in which those ele
ments are supplied,
For instance, while calcium is ahso
htely necessary to SUPPORT life-ius