Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-02-05
AVOID TROUBLE BY
HELPING TEETH
State Health Commissioner
Shows How People Can Save
Themselves Worry

DR.. Samuel G.. Dixon, State Com
missioner of Health says that peo-
pie can avoid trouble by looking after
their teeth. There is nothing which
people are so prone to neglect until
1t is too late. says the commissioner.
Tie commissioner says:
THE teeth are the first factor in
the process of digestion. They repre-
sent the millstones that cut and grind
the food. AS they do so, alkaline secre-
tions are given out by glands in the
mouth and mix with the food to make
the first change it undergoes in the
process of being absorbed by the sys-
TEN.
Good teeth are essential to normal
digestion. Teeth which are diseased
or artificial teeth held in place by set
tings which retain foodstuffs, are in
furious to health because they provide
places in which disease producing
germs grow and multiply.
"If you have diseased teeth or false
teeth not easy to keep clean have them
attended to- The germs they foster
are producing poisonous substances
that interfere with the normal func-
tions of vital organs. such as the heart
and kidneys.
"If you put your teeth in order, pro-
vided the organs have not become
chronically affected by long subjection
to improper conditions in the mouth,
the discontinuance of the poisons will
permit nature to rcassert herself and
the organs whose functions have been
effected will resume their normal course
in sustaining the scheme of life.
Care of the teeth should begin with
the advent of the child's first ones.
They should be kept clean by means
that VIII insure no wounding of the
guns. They are usually destroyed by
acid, therefore no mouth washes con-
tanning acid should be used. Consult
your dentist before using mouth washes
or preparations in the form of powd-
ers, creams, etc.
IF you are interested in your diges-
tion, you will avoid incongruous mix
lures of foodstuffs made up solely to
tickle the taste. Potato salad in the
American style is a good example. The
potato is composed chiefly of starch.
That is digested in the second stom-
ach where the secretions are alkaline.
II you soak the potato in vinegar you
have something whose nature is strict
ly opposite to the alkaline, which il
fights. Therefore, you are materially
delaying the digestive process.
Poor cooking often makes proper
food either difficult or impossible to
digest. The hard earned money of
good food which is often ruined by the
housewife ignorant in the art of cook
ing. Good cooking is not a matter of
whim or t1attering the palate. 1t is an
absolute essential to health. There
fore the art should be taught in our
public and parochial schools.
IF you eat too fast when the body
is overheated, heated or chilled, you
will often suffer distressing indigestion.
Eating in impure or stale air will in
terfere with digestion. If you are COM
PEELED to take meal under such cir
cumstances, the quantity of the food
should be reduced to a minimum,
Outside of some of these things
which have been mentioned, all of
which can be controlled to a greater
or less extent, it will be found that cer
tain foods do not in themselves agree
with certain persons. If you are eat
ing sensible food in sensible manner
and you find that some particular thing
does not agreed with you, the only
thing to do is to cut it off your list"