Milford chronicle., 1921-01-28
CHILDREN

Do you know that fourteen out Of
every hundred of the children that are
born are dead before their second
birthday?
The world is full of sentimental
stuff about the men who were killed
in the war, but only few doctors
and nurses taste a second thought
upon the thousands of infants and
children who die every year thru ig-
norance and neglect.
We must save our babies and chill
dren or the nation will perish. We are
not doing our part in this respect.
We do not have to increase our
birth rate to make us a strong and
vigorous nation.
Enough babies are born, but we do
need conservation of the lives of the
babies and children.
Did you ever hear Of child who
reached the age Of puberty without
more or less sickness? The sickness
which kills most children is a dis
grace to us because most Of it can
be prevented.
The medical profession has been
trying to do it's part by education
propaganda and free clinics establish
ed in our cities, but who ever heard
of the dental profession carrying on
any kind of an educational campaign
in any way?
The condition Of the child's mouth
seems to be responsible for much of
the disease of childhood. Does it not
seem strange that we who consider
ourselves a clean nation should ne
glect and ignore the mouth, which is
the dirtiest part of the body?
Does it not surprise you to know
that the Chinese, who know little
about personal cleanliness and sani-
tation clean their teeth and mouths
regularly?
Sterilization is almost unknown to
the Chinese medical man, but oral
prophylaxis though somewhat crude,
has always been known, from the
poorest to the wealthiest class. The
manufacture of the toothbrush and
the tongue scraper is an important in
dustry in China.
DR.. R. F. Shirley in the Frater says:
"The tongue seraper, which is al
most universally used, is made of
celluloid or bone for the poorer
classes, and silver and ivory for the
wealthy classes. The poorest people
who live in houseboats on the rivers
and canals, yet among the scanty
is found a toothbrush.
They may be seen, early in the MORN
ing, children and adults, Industrious
ly scrubbing their teeth, using the
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their sampan, regardless of the fact !
that there may be a hundred similar
ablutions being performed with ra-
dius of few feet, or that the water
is contaminated by all the filth and
sewerage of the city or the thousands
of boats near by"
Is not this enough to shame our so
called modern civilization" to know
that the despised "heathen Chinese"
may practice even one form of per-
sonnel cleanliness more conscientious
ly than we do?
From the time a child is born its
mouth should be regularly cleaned.
And it should be regularly cleaned
all thru life. A clean mouth will pre-
vent many of the disease of childhood
and in that way tend to reduce the
death rate of children. It will reduce
the chances for colds, pneumonia, and
etc.
The recent war has taught us many
things. One fact that we learned from
The draft is that country boys are in
ferior physically to city boys, and
large part of their deficiencies are
due to defective teeth.
In spite of the beneficial effects of
outdoor life sunshine and ample sup
posed to be inseparably associated
with youth in the country, decayed
teeth and dirty mouths have counter
all other benefits.
The average city boy receives some
dental instruction at school and wher-
ever he goes there is usually den
list, and, altho he neglects his teeth
sooner or later he is almost sure to
be driven to the dentist by pain.
The country boy may live for years
without even seeing a dentists sign,
ind a large per cent of them never
even heard of a tooth brush. This is
lust one illustration to show you the
for the careful care Of your {
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