The Washington times., 1915-05-11
THE TIMES DAILY MAGAZINE PAGE
Dental Science Has Found
Treatment To Save Teeth
Threatened By Pyorrhea
BY DIR. LEONARD KEENE HIRSHBERG.
Copyright 1915 by Newspaper Service Incl
-HE teeth are the root of all vir-
tue-in a physical sense. There
Is, then. something of an excuse

THE teeth are the root of all vir-
tue-in physical sense. There
, L is, then. something of an excuse
for the feminine madness of
blaming all the infections, chronic, acci-
dental and parasite maladics of an in
fants life upon that mark and scape-
goat. If a child has sore toe, ten
chances to one, though 1t be under six
months Of age, before teeth appear, or
at an age when all the teeth have ar
rived, its mother, aunt. neighbor or
grandmother will blame it on "teething."
"Ah, the little dear is only tcething.
DOCTOR say mothers when the child has
bronchitis, dysentery, diarrhoea. tom
silitis, scarlet fever appendicitis. collie,
coughs and what not. Many a BARN has
been borne to it's bier by these loving,
homemade "guesses"-always wrong.
The teeth like the hair. the nails end
the other tissues come slenly like snow
in the night. IT is pure ord-juggling
Of the most vicious American type that
makes women snap up ready made.
catch-penny names handed down on
tradition.
What PyOrrhea Is. =.
There Is. however, a universal disease
OF the teeth which everybody has soon
or late. Happily II assails the mortal
pearls OF the mouth of grown-ups
With a modicum of elbow grease and
a tooth brush this ailment does not in
trude its presence upon infants and
youths. OstraCized until adult life. it
seeks foothold upon the membranous
sheath of the teeth.
PNnrThaa ia 40 nj o,f nf
this more than unpleasant disorder.
Disgarded or treated by antiquated
meth DDS this widely distributed ailment
leads to the loss of the teeth.
There is tendency among progress
sive investigators to hold to the sweep
ing judgment that tiny animalcule
called an amoeba Is responsible for
Riggs disease" or pyorrhea. An amoe-
drop of saliva may contain a million of
them. They look under the microscope
like splotchcs OF clear transparent Jelly.
White blood CorpusCles are so much
like amoebae that a concentrated en-
semble rush Of the former upon a lot
of bacteria around the teeth could
easily be mistaken for amoebae.
Every mud puddle and pond teens
reaches are an abundant source of
them Lettuce and plants often abound
with amocbae. None of these. however.
cause sickness. They are harmless. not
pathological amoebac. Tropical dysen-
terry and dySenteries of A certain kind
hereabouts are associated with spatho-
logical amoebae.
Whether the dauntless para sitologists
and dentists who trace pyorrhea to
amOebae are correct or not, there is
not shadow of a doubt but that pus
germs and other bacteria infect and de-
stroy the membrane OF the teeth, roots
and the gums,
In fine true pyorrhoea as you find II
and know II is in reality a germ maladN
with the undermining matter formed by
bacteria and pus corpusClcs Perad-
venture the amoebae-or white corpus
Is actually perpetuated b va mixed In
feCuon of germs.
Emmetine and Aids.
Amoeblc dysentery has long been
treated with ipecac, and its essential
ingredient. emmetine. DR.. NJ. J. Danett
and DR.. J. Allen Smith. the pioneers,
who unearthed the amoebae as the
guilty causes of pyOrrhOea, wisely sug-
Eested that emmetine he used in the
treatment OF this mouth scourge. With
all due reverence to the fact that
amoebea have been considered harmless
natives of the human mouth for fifty
years. Drs. Barrett and Smith dc serve
the glory that is theirs, both for dis
covering the amoebae on the membrane