Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-09
TUESDAY. DECEMBER 0, 1919.
Great Benefit of Dental Clinic.

1'here neysr was a time when so much
.rrious thought has been given 70 the
mouth and 10 the teeth. The public
has begun 10 sit up and take notice TO
what the dentist has been preaching for
many vears The dentists saw i years
ago. some of them saw il sooner than
others. but all of them saw i sooner or
later that the condition Of the teeth has
something 10 do with the health Of the
ho,iv. II not only has something TO do
with the health Of the body il has whole
IL, 10 do with the health Of the body
Time was when the name Of dentist
was simply synonymous with pain. The
dentist was looked upon more or less as
= Joke. He was the knight Of the forceps
md that was about all, man to be avoid
cd. excepting rs = court of last appeal
from pam. Time was when surgeon
uas a mere letter 81 blood. and that was
about all But times have changed,
this is a thing Of the past. The public
hes become fully awakened 70 the fact
that old mother nature pat teeth in the
two arches inside Of the mouth for q very
good purpose and that they were put there
10 be Dared for just as much as any other
part OF the body has 10 be cared for.
The teeth prepare every particle OF
food to properly sustain body, and the
general public has awakened to the fact
some time ago thst an insufficient and
improperly nourished body is not 100
pcr cent efficient. AK sny dentist how
many times the thread bare and time
worn sentence be hears. II wish that
had taken care of my teeth when ] was
younger
They didn't know then; thst's the
answer. So when the Children's We'll
fare Committee appealed 10 the dental
profession of Wilmington 70 lend hand
in developing q better boy snd girl and
a more healthy one, the committee found
most enthusiastic and willing set Of
men. They have wanted TO do this sort
Of thing FOR years.
Not 80 very many years ago physica
examination of the pupi Of our public
schoo.s took place This included ex-
animation Of the mouth by dentists who
volunteered 10 make the examinations
These examinations revealed the fact
that more than so per cent Of the children
IN our public schools were sadly in need
Of dental attention The dentists were
wiling at that time 20 establish public |
denta c'inic
Then, a little later on when the call
came for volunteers for our army and
navy. was found that our Department
ofNar had established q required standard 5.
IN which a mouth must be. in order 10
become q soldier or sailor
Plenty Of boys, highly desirable IN
every other way were barred out The
dentists of tins CITY cstab lshed clin
whereby these rejected BOYS were brought
IN 10 the government standard and It
vii be remembered that the results Oh
tanned certainly justified the work Of the
dental clinic at that time
But gong back TO the children, the
actua. dental condition Of 50 per cent Of
our children ls simply appalling, and II
means that the children are not growing .
up as strong IN body and mind as they
should Let any interested person look +
IA the mouths Of half dozen anaemic |
school boys, note the condition, then
inspect an equal number Of rosy-cheeked,
full-o! play youngsters, and see if the ,
latter are not hitting on all four cylin-
ders.
We wonder if the public. the school
board especially. has ever stopped to
inquire how many pupils are retarded
in other words thrown back TO go through
the same course Of study for another
term, simply because Of bad teeth, or
loss Of time from bad teeth? Does 1t
ever occur 70 the school board that this
re-education is an additional expense.
1t is interesting 10 observe the actual
facts from try-out IL the State of Con-
uectcut In the city Of Bridgeport a
tota Of 6, 76S mouths were examined, .ess
than 10 per cent had or were having any
dental care, 80 per cent claimed that they
were giving their teeth occasional care;
90 per cent confessed that they gave their
teeth no care at all The actua records
of retarded pupils, traced directly to
denta conditions in eight schools ranged
from 1906 per cent to % per cent. The
cost for re-education for these retarded
pupils in 1912 equaled AZ per cent OF the
entire budget, and 1918, after dental
c'iulcs were established in the schoo',
system the cost Of re-education of re-
tarded pupils amounted to II per cent
Of the entire budget These are facts
The time is the present, the place Is
here. and the members Of the dental pro-
fessIon Of our city are only too wiling
70 give their knowledge and their time