The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-05-11
Home Nursing
fhewink Ones WAY no Health


= That finishes the dentists for
: smother six months said the tall girl
( with perfect teeth, showing her brother
] the tiny filling in back tooth and say
! ing happily, "Can you imagine, Mother
Z only three dollars for my dental bill
5 last year and Flora's was over two
/ hundred !"
Her mother smiled happily, "Your
I tseth are wonderful, DEAR she said,
! Enotherwise, II wish could get your
: Gncle Billy to go to a dentist and have
I his dental deficiencies corrected
That's a kind way to put 1t,
! Mother" said the girl
! The trouble with Uncle Billy Is
that all those long years ne spent in
Alaska, far away from dentists and
= doctors, blunted his belief in common
! sense hygiene--if he ever did believe
! in it I! And now he hasn't got single
aood tooth and he's letting them all
! - to rack and ruin. He can't chew his
Z food properly and he washes it down
with tea and coffee. And he scolds me
! Tor going to the dentist just to make
sure that my teeth are all right"
Uncle Billy would be a lot happier
esd his health would be improved ire
nEendously if he would go to a dentist
and have his teeth repaired" sighed
Violet Green's mother. But you know
how stupid old bachelors like Uncle
! Btily are-when they want to be-"
Teeth while ornamental as long as
they are clean and whole, are after all
given to humans for purpose
Their mission is to. break food into
small particles and make it easier to
digest The various gastric and intes-
tinal secreti0ns which act upon no the
! food in the wonderful process of diges-
: ton are thus aided in their mission.
I Aside from this, an actual changing
Of food so that it may be assimilated
/ by the system takes place in the mouth,
and it is by chewing ones food properly
nthat this important chemical change
takes place. Unless One's teeth are in
zN1Od condition 1t is impossible to chew
glEes food properly and sufficiently.
! The saliva, which is secreted in the
: ns0ath and mixes with the food when
Il Is chewed, contains an agency called
W&yalin. This secretion is alkaline and
ean act only upon alkaline foods.
Starchy foods, such as cereals, bread,
Z and crackers, and peas, potatoes, beans
ard other starchy vegetables are partly
I digested in the mouth by the action of
this ptyalin.
ROr this reason vinegar should not
be eaten with starchy foods because it
interferes with their digestion in the
mouth.
Most vegetable or starchy foods have
a fine husk which is called cellulose and
Il pcGcticalfy without food value. This
Ag broken up by long cooking, as in
aakmeal and rendered more digestible,
but II properly chewed it is also broken
mp and the real nourishment Of the
food extracted from the cellulose. By
acheWfng properly more nourishment is
thus obtained from food.
while the saliva and its ptyalin can
not digest meats, prolonged chewing
separates the digestible part, called pro-
teins from the indigestible, or bulk-fOod,
called eellulose.
Therefore, tits possible to chew ones
way to health-if one takes care of
eoue's teeth and remembers to eat slowly
and to drink after eating, instead OF
with ones food.