The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-10-03
By ALFRED c. TONES, DDS.
Director of Dental Department, Bridgeport Board of
 Health Read Befe17 the Convention of Connecticut Dental Hygienists' Association

tr&S Of ftye-yVar demOnstrati ton OF all educational and preventive dental clinic in the first five grades Of the
 publie schools of Bridgeport, Conn, it is interesting to review the reason ing and deductions by which the plan was perfected. Previous to the establishment of the clinic in 1914, q paper entitled "A Pla3 that Solves the Fundamental Problem in School Hygiene was read by Dr. Alfred c. Tones, of Bridgeport Conn.,, before the Fourth International Congress on school Hygiene in Buffalo, August 26tA, 1913. In it the author sum med ap in Q short article the physi- cal status Of the average school child and the problem of the unsanitary condition Of his mouth and evolved 2 plan for its solution. Al that per iod little was known of focal infec- lions, which have proven to be a greater evil than anything Vet re- oogn32ed as traeeable to decayed
 teeth. The paper makes c logical
 introduetlon to this report and is
 preseHted in fun as follows:
 Dr. E'ones's Plan Proposed in 1914
 To analyze the subject o3 hygiene for the up]ift and betterment oG the
 children iii our public schools, we HEst determine what arc the main factors existing at present that act as q detrf4aent to proper development and also as the chief cause Of illness in child life.
 The large number of papers pre- sonved at this congress, covering so ny phases Of the subject, merely r yes that we must reach 8 con- clusioT2, first as to where we should concentrate our energy, and then one step at ., time eliminate the most conspicuous evils that beSet the school children of our country.
 If our large steel plants and roll ing mills were obliged to re2,ou from twenty to thirty-ffEe per cent of Jheir stock, it would not take them -ery long to find out what was the natter. No business nowadays could stand such a high percentage of loss in doing it's work over again,
 Tn our public schools throughout the country it is a, fair estimate 10 school children who are reviewing their grade will range between tweF7- ty and th1rty-five per cent In 9
 majority of the cities the average would be nearer the latter figure What is the matter? Is it our sys- tenn of teachiGgs crowded schools, poorly lighted or f1-Eeptilated build irags, or is the chief cause to be found in the material itself-Jhs chil62
 Let us examine the average boyI of ten years of age and see what we find. Face, ears and nose uncleaTl, hair unlkeEnpt. hands griny and fin ger nails dirty Shoes slashed with dry or wet mud, clothes so5Ied, and an odor peUcolat3ng through the ali nlosphere to ezcits suspicion that his little body has not been washed for some time. His eyesight may be good and ret 1t may be defective. If his face Is washed it may disclose a color that Is lacking in the bloom hat a boy of ten should have
 "'I9 othErwfse his body appears nor nal EPe ask him to open his mouth If his external appearance troubles us- his Internal appearance would shock us. Here We find teeth cover ed with green stain; temporary and ornament teeth badly decaged, pos sibIy fIstulas on the gum surface showing an outlet for pus from shs- a assessed tooth or teeth and de composing food around and between xhs teeth, Why examine the child any fu-thHr2 Here al the gateway Of the system is a source of infec- ton and poison that would contamE- rare every 11aouthful Of food taken mo DIglS- Will NSS-AJii1 4JJsNiA1 1-s1ead of digestion taking place in the ailmAntary tract, 1t is no wonder that the child suffers from an auto trr0xicadon which produces eye strain. anaeu5a, naaIaisa, constipation headaches levers, and many other ailments
 Such ., moufh Is an ideal breeding i ground for germ life, and a child 1 with such 2 mouth is far more sus- ceptibIa to infectious diseases than one vii ose teeth are sound and kept free from food debris Suppose at the entrance of cities such a rank i condition existed How long would 1 1t be before disease and sickness l would be swept in among the inhabf- 1 tau1s2 This boy described is but du- l plicated in the girl of ten Decayed ] teeth constitute the most prevalent disease known It is difficult to find two children out of one hundred with | perfectly sound sets of teeth In a l thorough dental examination of five hundred and fifty school children in the town of Stratford, Connecticut, i but one child was found to have a 1 set of teeth free from decay
 Look over the reports of the med ical inspectors in the public schools | who have made but a glancing eX- | animation of the mouths, and you will find that decayed teeth outrank 1 all other physical defects combined
 Therefore we must deduce rom ! our analysis of school hygiene that the most conspicuous defect of the child is the unsanitary condition of his mouth Like a pig pen or gar bage drain, slowly seeping its poi | son into the brook, which, flowing into the reservoir, contam1nates the water supply to a city, so do the products of a.bscessed and decayed teeth with decomposins food slowly but surely poison the human system. Such mouths and teeth breed dis ease. Such children cough and sneeze millions of germs made V1ru- lent and active in an ideal feeding ground. And then again the teeth as a crushing and masticating ma chine are frequently ruined by the time the child has reached twelve or fourteen years of age. It is true that they can limp through life with this dreadful handicap, the same as .Ansantomobfle can climb steep hill l