Milford chronicle., 1920-04-30
TEETH AND HEALTH
IN THE ARMY AND NAVY
By R. ALLEN GRIFFITH, D. D.

The appalling condition Of the teett
Of our boys has caused the American
government for the first time in his
tory TO assume supervision ana con
troll of the teeth OF the army and navy
In full recognition OF the importance
of sound teeth the military authorl-
ties have all men carefully examined
as to the fitness of their teeth.
The dental corps has been placed
on equal rank with the medical corps
and all men with hopelessly bad teeth
are rejected. Those whose teeth can
be repaired are turned over to the
dental department.
In the days when soldiers had TO
bite of the ends Of their cartridges
and when both soldiers and sailors
had to subsist principally on hard
tack" it was the policy OF the govern
ment to reject men with bad teeth
but no effort was made to repair or
keep the teeth in good condition.
When our ships went across many
of our institutions surprised the Eng
lish, and none more than the dentist
and his workmen.
A dentist on shipboard was an in
noyatiOn and was discussed great
deal Some of them tried the dentist
with the usual trepidation.
Samuel G. Blythe tells a story of a
Victoria cross man, who did several
tremendous things at sea and had
many decoration for exceeding bray-
cry.
Having a severe toothache, he final
" decided he would have to ask per-
mission to go to a dentist on one OF
the American ships. You cannot
imagine how 1 dread it, he said. i
wish / could take off this Victoria
cross ribbon for the time, for | know
1 shall squeak when he starts to bor-
ing that tooth, and it will be sort OF
absurd for a Victoria cross man TO
squeak in a dentists chair won't it?'
A man without teeth or with defec-
tive teeth cannot chew properly. He
is very liable to get Indigestion. Fur
thermore, decayed teeth are filed with
germs, the presence and activity OF
which may produce diseases Of a ser
iOus nature.
If we must have an army and navy
they should be efficient. It does not
pay TO maintain an inefficient fight
ing force For that reason it is good
policy for the government to assume
the care OF the teeth of its soldiers
and sailors.
In all the big camps where recruits
are prepared and trained dental de-
partments have been established. The
teeth of the men are carefully exam
ined from time TO time, and if they
show any defects the men are sent to
the dental hospital, where they
promptly receive attention.
A year ago the military regulations
aaT fnH fnu faH To a nd
men. Late in 1918 the number of
dentists was increased to one dem
tist to 500 men.
In addition the Preparedness Lea I
que of American Dentists was formed,
the members of which, repaired the .
teeth of thousands of rejected men
without charge to the government.
Ella wheeler Wilcox, writing from .
France, says: "One of the many inter
esting things we remarked about our
boys over here is thei beautifully
kept teeth. Speak to one of them, and
the reply is sure to be accompanied
with a smile and that smile reveals
almost invariably a set OF cleaning
white teeth, which shows what good
parents and good schools with dem
tai supervision have done for our
growing boys"
Also Ell. be it said. the Dental
League and the army
corps Of the u. S. A. helped, and
don't forget that one-third of those
boys were rejected because of defec-
i've teeth, and SO per cent needed dem
al attntion.
American Red Cross workers in
France, by means of pictures, magic
antern, movies, charts and exhibits,
.aught the French children the i'm
Dortance Of keeping their teeth in
good condition.
Don't you think a little OF the eff
iort and money spent in foreign prop
Uganda might do as much good right
here in the good old U. s. A. as it
will in trying to reform the world?
Compulsory universal military
for a period Of six months
will not only put our boys in first
class physical condition, but their
.eeth and other minor physical de-
'ects will be taken care Of
The draft showed that one-third Of
he men we're unfit for military ser
rice on easily remedial defects.
Let us make military training a per-
;