Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-04-25

you can do is to lessen the decay
But here is a choice you do have:
You may go to the dentist Otter
and have small cavities filled lust
as soon as they occur, and so pre-
vent toothache, or you may neg
lect going to the dentist until pain
drives you to him. Notice that
you go to a dentist; it is only d
question of when.
If you elect to pursue the former
course you will save health money
| time and energy. If you follow
the second course and allow your
teeth to ache, you have a choice
then of doing one of three things
! Cd You may have your aching
tooth treated by the same methods
dentists have used for the past 80
years; CD You may have the tooth
extracted; (3) You may have the
tooth treated by modern surgical
methods
Let us analyze each of the fore
going and see which you wish 10
choose. Certainly you do not want
| your teeth treated now as teeth
were treated in the past, for that
! form of treatment has been Il
! CHASTITY failure. If half of what
we now believe of the inadequacy
of such treatment is true it leads
straight to the most serious dis
eases of the most vital organs of
( the body.
The second choice, extraction, is
not particularly inviting. Nobody
wants to lose teeth. Vacant lots
i in the mouth are not pretty. And
1t is mighty expensive and not Us
satisfactory as it might be to fill
such spaces.
And so we arrive at the third
choice, namely modern aseptic
surgical treatment of teeth. 1t
{ must be admitted that all teeth
which have ached are q risk to
! health. But then life is just one
risk after another. We must take
some risks. 1t is a risk to cross
) the street; Ford may hit You.
However, it is good sense to run
as few risks as possible and re-
| ducG those we can not escape TO
| the minimum. Once a tooth has
| ached it should either be extracted
or, if it is to be left in the mouth,
1t should be treated by modern
methods, with as much care as a
surgeon exercises when operating
| on the brain or the eye.
But the trouble with this mod
ern surgical method of treating the
canals of teeth which have ached
is that it is so Internally expen-
slve. People of ordinary means
after having one or two teeth
treated will see that they can not
afford to continue the practice of
| neglecting their teeth until such
treatment becomes necessary. Then
too, as | have said, the tooth with
| the nerve removed is always risk
to health. And, even though the
risk be reduced to the minimum
| to the point where it may not
worry you while your health is
good, still, If your health gets bad
| (and soon or late everybody
health fails them) then suspicion
| falls on the tooth. And though
! the poor old tooth may not be
| guilty of causing the disease OF
| the body its innocence can not al
| ways be proved, and so, while the
| sickness lasts, it is a source Of con-
| Germ.
From the foregoing it will be
seen that once a tooth has ached
your choice is only matter of So
| lecting the least Objectionable of
| three evils. Therefore the only
sensible thing for anyone to do is
to prevent toothache, by having
teeth filled and refilled and filled
| again. just as soon as small cavi-
ties occur, and SO prevent the
whole train of trouble that follows
when dental disease is allowed to
progress to the second stage, /. g.,
the stage where the pulp (nerve)
becomes diseased.
Nobody likes to have to spend
money on their teeth, but it can
not be avoided, and 1t is not econ
omy to stay away from a dentist
this year to save ten dollars and
have to go next year and pay eight
or ten times that amount.
Select your dentist with as much
care as you do your family physi-
clan, for your dentist is in a posi-
ton to do you great harm or great
good.
There is only one bargain in dem
tistry, that is the bargain of pro-
Vention. 1t is a great mistake to
imagine that just any kind of den
tistry will do or that any kind of
dental or medical treatment is bet
ter than no dental or medical treat
ment at all. 1t may be true that
any kind of trousers are better
than no pants at all, but the wrong
kind of dentistry may do more
harm than good, and the wrong
operation is the wrong operation
no matter how skilfully it may be
performed
Dentistry has but one real mes
sage for the people, and the mes
sage is 'Toothache is preventable
and you must not let your teeth
ache" When l give this message
to older people than you, students
of the University, | often feel dis
couraged, for l know the message
has come too late. But with you,
or the great majority of you, the
message as | give it TO you now
comes in plenty of time. You are
young, your lives are before you,
and your mouths are In Your own
hands so tn sneak