Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1916-05-03
SOUND Teeth MEANS
GOOD HEALTH
The Crying Evil Of the Day is Wide
Spread Prevalence Of Bad
Teeth.
PAPER READ BY DR.. GRADY U.S.N.
Father Of National Mouth Hygiene
Movement" Tells Of Dangers Of
Unsound Teeth.
PAPER READ BY DR.. GRADY U.S.N.

among Tue uAdtufGs WHICH art just hS-
ginning to be recognized.
1T is evident" Or. Charles II Mayo
the eminent surgeon, said year or
two ago. that the next great step in
medical progress in the line of prevent
i've medicine should be made by dent
lists"
Here is an opportunity TO read, in
part. what Richard Grady, NJ d., ID. ID.
s.. the dental surgeon at the Naval
Academy. said in his address to the
dentists who met in the State House
last week DR. Grady is known as the
father of the national mouth hygiene
movement" and also as the organizer
of the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute,
the first public school devoted 10 man
ual training in an American city.
DR. Grady said:
AT the annual session of the Amer
lean Medical Association at Atlantic
City. June 4. 1900, 1 presented a paper
entitled Cooperation of the Publ
schools in Teaching Good Teeth. Good
Health. In considering the subject,
asked primarily three questions: What
is wanted? Why? How TO get it? l
was at that time chairman of the com
mite on oral hygiene of the Maryland
State Dental Association. and also tas
now resident dental surgeon at the
United States Naval Academy, where
had the care of the mouths and teeth
Of hundreds of young midshipmen from
all parts OF the country.
Previously had been visiting dent
fist tc five schools and institutions in
Baltimore. The examination of many
boys and girls from six years of age
upward. and young men from sixteen
TO twenty-fCur years of age, had given
me an opportunity of noting the con
,lition of the teeth of young people
posses sed by few, if any dentists.
AS a professional teacher, | recog-
nized that there was a growing de-
mand that the subject of hygiene
should receive increasing attention i'm
general education; that happily it re-
quires less knowledge to keep what We
already have, than to recover it when
lost; that preservation of health can
be learned
Fully persuaded that a large per
centage of dental carries is absolutely
preventable, alike pleasing and inn
perative was my appeal to the ambition
and intelligence of dentists to prevent
rather than repair the raEages of decay
Is it right. l asked, that the vast re
search respecting hygiene OF the mouth
J.
has employed practitioners of dentist
ny for years, should go for nothing il
education; that this wealth of knowl-
edge should be passed by as if it had
no existence, and the young people of
the country grow up as ignorant Of it
as if they had lived centuries ago?
"A large amount of suffering may be
avoided through proper knowledge
conscientiousIy employed. and il will
be great saving of Young America"
and thereby of all America if dental
inspectors are appointed to visit the
schools and examine cEildren's teeth
and dental clinics are established for
the benefit of poor children.
Treating the diseased teeth of school
children at public expense may seem
entirely out of the question 10 some
persons; yet why should it be less rea-
sonable to have visiting dentists than
teachers of physical culture or visit
ing nurses, or even medical inspect
orst If bad teeth could be prevented
the gain TO the State and the individual
would be of enormous value. as many
diseases can be traced to defective
teeth.
1t is the noble privilege of teachers
OF the country to promote in some de-
gree The preservation of the teeth of
those under their care. and this they
can do by intoxicating early and earn
estly and with the emphasis of high
religious duty. the principles of oral.
hygiene. The life OF every man and
woman and child should be guided by
its laws
In recent years dentistry has grown
side by side with medical science. Now
il is recognized that the teeth are as
important objects of medical study as
the eye and ear. The same spirit which
led TO enlistipg the active cooperation
of the public schools concerning meas
lres for preventing the spread of con-
tagious diseases, should be insisted on
respecting the care of the teeth. A
movement of physicians to secure pub
lie action in this matter at once exerts
moral force. Mothers are more
watchful and painstaking TO avoid the
disgrace of decayed teeth in their chill
dren's mouths. Children are moved t.
take pride in spotless teeth; and in
this age 10 acquire an ambition to have
things white and spotless about the
person is ccmmendahle.
The medication of good oral habits
among children should be insisted on.
The hope of dentistry is to employ
prophylactice instead of remedies. to
prevent decay instead of treating it,
II is essential that child be taught
how % brush the teeth properly. A
tooth brush drill al school is as needful
as any gymnastie exercise for the pre-
servation of health. There is a strong
reason TO believe that many diseases of
the nervous system. respiratory organs
and alimentary canal may be due to
the fact that the masticatory organs
have been neglected.
Continued