Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-02-05

month of December, 1911, announced
the results of the first three months
work conducted by DR.. William j.
Gallivan, chief of the division of child
hygiene of the Boston Board of
Health.
The school physicians under DIR.
Gallivan examined 42,750 children and
only 1887, little more than one
third, were found to be in a condition
that could be called healthy; 27,795
of the children examined were de-
scribed as detective
In this historic center of the learn
ing and culture of the United States
an investigation covering three months
discovered among the children of the
schools 1888 cases of defective teeth,
| 9,73S cases of diseased tonsils $500
cases of skin disease, 575 cases of
ricketts,, and 1,611 cases of malnutri-
ton.
The Bureau of Medical Research re-
ports that lin rural as well as in city
schools nearly one in three have trou-
Die with the eyes; nearly one in five
are mouth -breathers, because of alb
normal growths in the air passages,
besides many who are obviously pre-
disposed to tuberculosis and nervous
trouble"
At the annual meeting, June. 1913.
of the Second District Dental Society
of New York, DR.. A. Freedman Foot
reported on the work done by the
new Municipal Dental Clinic of New
York City, which has been operating
since the first of January, 1913.
Up to that time 1884 children in
New York City had been registered in
the clinics, two of which are in Man
haitian, three in Brooklyn and one in
the Bronx.
OF these 1884 school children only
eleven were found to possess normal
teeth.
DR.. Foot's report, which was alarm
ing in the extreme, stated THE six
year molars of nearly every child were
broken down wholly or in part, and
in great many instances the molars
We're decayed through the gums.
Where 1t was not already too late
these molars were drilled and filled
With gutta-percha.
AT the lowest estimation more than
so per cent. of all the children ex-
amined possessed defective teeth. In
many instances the defects were so
extensive and far advanced that cor
rective treatment even if it could have
been applied, would have been of lit
tie value"
Well indeed may this report ask the
question, What will be the future
health chances of such children 2"
Are they to be useful to society or
drag upon the race? How does it
look to you?
The American teeth of to-day are
among the poorest on earth. in spite
of the fact that the diet of the Amer
lean people is said to contain a greater
variety of foods than that found in
any other nation of the world. Alas!
such flattery does not compensate for
the annual deaths of nearly 400, 900
children under ten years of age in the
United States alone.
DR.. T. Van Wrinkle of the Depart
ment of Health, examining the teeth
of 231,0S1 New York city children
outside the dental clinics, found 131.-
TAT defective. A special examination
of the teeth of 500 school children be-
tween the ages of fourteen and sixteen
selected at random revealed 4S6 de-
fective cases.
In this respect the discoveries of
Dr. Gels concerning the mineral def
ciencies of starved teeth will receive
attention in their proper place. We
are now moving rapidly, but we must
not go too fast.