The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1921-04-15
Foreign Advertising Representative
THE AMERlCAN PRESS ASSOClATION
THE HEALTH CENTER
Conducted by Viola Hahn, Public
Health Nurse
The Growing Child

The Growing Child
A series of articles presented to
the readers of this paper by the
United States Public Health Service,
the Maryland State Board of Health
and the County Health Officer.
4-Hints on Preserving Coed Teeth
From what has been said in pre-
vious article, you will realize how i'm
portant it is to look after your chill
dren's teeth, train them to care for
them properly, and have a dentist to
examine them from time to time to
make sure no defect is overlooked.
Have you ever stopped to think
how great an influence diet has on
the development Of the teeth? The
Importance Of proper diet is much
gretaer than most people realize.
When baby comes into the world it
is apparently toothless. Neverthe-
less, at this time the first teeth are
practically completely formed, lying
beneath the gums. In fact, under
these first teeth there are already the
beginnings of the permanent teeth.
Under these circumstances, you can
readily understand that these teeth
cannot develop as they should if the
body is not supplied with sufficient
amount Of necessary building mater
ial. Hence in the food for your child
you should make sure that especially
those elements that build bony struc-
ture, of which the tooth is a type,
are supplied in sufficient quantities.
This fact recognized, you will agree
that proper care of the child's teeth
really begins in early infancy, even
before any teeth have appeared, and
should be directed especially to the
infants feeding. Nursing at the
breast is by all odds the best way
to start the proper development of the
child's teeth.
The two most important elements
needed in the diet for building sound
teeth are lime and phosphoric acid,
and for the growing child there is
not. better source of these than
milk; mothers milk in infancy and
clean cows milk later. After infancy
the diet of every child should include
glass of milk with every meal, and
in addition to this there should be
other sources Of mineral salts, such
as fruits, green vegetables and pure
water.
But there is another important
thing to remember about the relation
of feed to good eeth, and tina. is the
influence Of exercise. just as regular
use of the muscles makes the muscles
large, firm and strong, so regular use
of the teeth for chewing helps to
make stronger and better teeth. The
food should therefore, be presented in
such form that it will require
chewing. For this reason the diet
should include a certain amount of
coarse material designed especially to
exercise the teeth. Coarse whole-grain
breads, hard tack, baked potatoes eat
en- with their jackets, fresh apples
these and similar articles incladed in
the food will help to make good teeth.
Decay of the teeth, also spoken of
Is dental carries, is caused py the
seton of germs or bacteria which
lodge upon the less exposed parts of
ne TOOTH AS result, of their
growth the tooth structure is soften
ed, allowing the succeeding genera.
lions of bacteria to penetrate further
nto the substance of the tooth.
Much can be done to prevent this
decay of the teeth, and this accumula-
lion of germs, by brushing and e;ean-
ing the teeth regularly. Each child
should be taught the proper use of
the tooth brush, and the mother
should train her child to brush the
teeth regularly after each meal. At
the present time the proper use of
the tooth brush is taught in many
schools by means of the "tooth brush
drill" but this will help but little
if the mother does not make sure
that this teaching is actually applied
at home.
Does your child brush his teeth reg
ularly? Do you see that good tooth
brush and some pleasant tooth paste
or other dentifrice is at hand? Do
you ever look at your child's teeth?
These are some of your responsible
tiles.