The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1922-05-19
HEAL TIL BULLETIN
CITY OF ELY
by OWEN w. PARKER. ND
Health Commissioner

Health Commissioner z
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The following is taken from the
Minnesota Health journal, entitled,
"How Bad Teeth Cause Rheumat-
ISM:
"To some, no doubt, it will APP
pear strange that a hole in tooth
could be the cause of pain in the
knee or in tfe ankle, and when
we stop to reflect, we realize that
it does sound rather strange and
certainly some explanation is in
order. The best way, we believe,
to explain this matter is as fol
lows:
If we take a piece of fresh meat,
say nice porterhouse steak, and
put it in a room, the first day it
is fine; after a week the odor aris-
ing therefrom is not so good and
after two weeks the odor is ex-
ceedingly offensive. If this same
piece of meat had been kept in
cold storage it you'd still be nice
and fresh, but the mere fact that
it has been in a room of ordinary
temperature has caused it to putre-
fly. We say this putrefaction is
due 20 the action of germs, but
some people may say that they do
not believe in germs. 1t does not
matter, because they certainly can
not mistake The offensive odor.
When we eat, some small part
icles of food remain around or be-
tween the teeth and the first day
causes very little, if any harm, but
the mouth being warm the same
condition occurs with the food in
the mouth that happened 30 the
porterhouse steak above mentioned.
After week it begins to decay
and the odor is not so good. After
two weeks it is very offensive.
Some people will say that this odor
of bad breath comes from the
liver, the stomach, or some other
par. of the body, but the facts are
that in almost all cases it comes
from a diseased condition of the
teeth brought about by improper
care.
AS one rotten apple in a barrel
will soon cause every other apple
in that barrel to become rotten, so
it is with this decayed food. One
tooth is first attacked and this in
turn attacks the next one, and so
the process continues.
But i may be said that we still
have gotten no further than the
teeth and we still have not ex-
planned how this condition causes a
pain in .he knee, in the ankle, or
in any other part of the body,
which we call rheumatism.
1t is to be remembered that the
heart pumps blood 20 all parts Ct
the body and this same blood must
get back to the heart, otherwise
there would be nothing to pump.
No part of the body can live with
out blood. There is blood in the
fngernails, blood in the hair, and
blood everywhere. If you were to
tie a tight band around one finger
and stop the circulation of blood,
it would only be few days be-
fore that finger would be dead.
The teeth also have blood. This is
best proven by the fact that when
a tooth is extracted the gums
bleed. Of course most of this
bleeding comes from the tearing of
the gums, but that the tooth has
blood must also be admitted be-
cause it could not live otherwise.
The blood circulating through de-
cayed teeth picks up this poison,
and this same blood is pumped by
the heart to other parts of the
body. If the poison is deposited in
some joint, like the knee or the
ankle, it causes a pain which we
call rheumatism. If it is deposited
on the valves of the heart, we have
heart disease. If it is deposited in
the kidneys we have kidney disease.
Of course, rheumatism, hear. dis
ease, and kidney disease are pro-
duced by other causes than bad
teeth, but this is the way that bad
teeth can cause these diseases.
Therefore, keep the teeth in
good condition by using tooth
brush regularly, washing out the
mouth afterward. If the teeth have
begun to decay, do not wait until
they ache but see dentist i'm
mediately. If the trouble, as men,
toned above in these cases comes
from the teeth, it can be seen that
very little permanent relief can be
hoped for by putting plasters, hot
packs, or such remedies over the
painful spot. Get, at what is caus-
ing the pain, and in the case men,
toned above it is the teeth. 1t is
not to be understood that persons
who have permitted this condition
of bad teeth to continue until they
get rheumatism should ignore a
physicians advice to apply certain
remedies in the way of hot appli-
cations, etc., but after the symp-
toms have left, and before another
attack occurs, they should have the
teeth put in proper condition. I"
William F. Wild, M. D..
SIGNS MEAN NOTHING.