The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-10-03


 assured that the child with wreck l ed mouth at fourteen is travelling on his second speed until he reaches thirty-five and from there he drops into his low gear to finish the jour ney in a. slow and uncertain state. It is true that many have lived to a ripe old age with unelean mouths and wrecked teeth, not on account of such conditions, but in spite of them.
 If it be conceded that the most unhygie2lie feature os child life is it's mouth we then come to the prob Ien-hOH can we esta blish clean mouths, sound teeth and toothbrush habit? To try and FsI the teeth of the children in our public schools is Q noble charity, but an endless chain. Like an immense flood, decayed teeth have spread over the civilized world to such an extent that hardly one tenth of the population of a country such as oucs could find a sufficient number of dentists to fill it's teeth. 1 believe it to be a. conservative estf- mate to say that the children found in the first five grades in our pub lie schools would average not less than six good-sized cavities in their teeth. If you will but figure out how many children there are in your city
 
 roughly estimate the immense amount of work thero would be for 8 corps of dentists to cope with such @ task as filling their teeth. This would not mean merely plugging a hole in a piece of ivory; it means the painstaEing work Of q dental opera ton on live tissue,
 But let US assume that it is posst- b1e to fill these teeth and save them for the tisese bctslsS, how are We to prevent q s>e-ocopg9enee oe decay as well as to check the flood With the children coming into the schools in the primary grades each year2 Sure ly every dentist knows that the tooth brush alone will not stop il, and ev- cry dentist also knows, as well as the parent, how difficult 1t IS to induce children to properly brush their teeth and take care of their mouths as they should. Would 1t not be better to evolve a system for the prevention of dental decay and the esta blisla- nlent of clean mouths than try to cope with the hopeless task Of filling the thousands of decayed tee1h2 | am heartily in sym thy with the scheme that every city should have a dental clinic for tho school children for the relief of pain and I believe
 
 tuTy to allow the poorer class Of cail- dren to suffer <es they do from tooth ache But let us draw a, line on the conditions as they exist today sszsc- 1 would presees1 this plan, partly sVa- gested by Dr. Ot2oaaagaf, of New York, for your coaass3era t3on>
 -rIt Is Q clinical fact that fully eighty per cent oc dental decay can be prevented E sa2oGsehly OF even as5~ monthly surface polishing pE the teeth with orange wood sticks and fine puplice can be systematically fol- lowed These trea t12ae4ats, Of course, to be augmented by the faithful and correct use of the tooth brush, floss silk and lime water as a mouth wash
 Suppose St were possible to start Q year from this September and place in our schools trained women who would conGae their efforts the first year to the children in the first grade These women to be trained and educated as hyg5enls1s who would be com pstent to give each child 3, surface Taa a1men1 Of the teeah once a naonths each woman to have the supervision to start with, of two hundred children; these children in the first grade to be taught the prop CT use Of the tooth brush, mouths 1
 
 child permitted 10 enter the class l room who had not brushed his teeth. | Hands and face 10 be clean and hair comb Bodily cleanliness also in l sisted upon and efforts made to se- cure the cooperation of the par ents Talks in the class room as well as the use of the stereopticon | in the assembly room would greatly | aid in securing the desired results | These hygienistS could also be of | great aid to the medical inspectors 1 At the end Of the year they would | follow the children into the second ] grade and a new corps of hygienists | would enter the firse grade with the new pupils; this to be repeated for | five years, until the first corps of | women were caring for their children in the fifth grade It is doubtful if 1t would be necessary to carry this work beyond the fifth grade, as the child would be cared for through the most 1 susceptible period for dental decay.
 NOW what would such a system mean to the children? It would | m mean that from the first day that the l child entered school it would be taught cleanliness That when the first permanent tooth entered the l mouth it would be under the supervi- sion of the hygienist, who would l
 
 teach the child how to keep it clean and who would also aid with the monthly polishing. It would mean that during the first five years of | school life habits of cleanliness would | be established that would mold these boys and girls into new types of men and women. Fully three-Quarters of the diseases incident to child life would be eliminated. With an addi- tionaI knowledge of food values and how to properly masticate their food instead of bolting it, the main fac tors for hygiene would be covered.
 Booker Washington once said: If I can teach the colored man the gos- pei of the tooth brush, I feel that I can make a man of him. Those of You who see but little of children can hardly realize what an uplift and different point of view there comes with a clean mouth and polished teeth It is interesting to see a child whose teeth have been polished and washbowl instruction given in the use of the tooth brush, gradually change in general appearance regarding