The Washington times., 1935-11-28
Health
Are Bad Teeth
Inherited?
By LOGAN CLENDENING, M. d.

BY LOGAN CLENDENANO, M" ~.
An American friend Of mine
who accompanied me to a number
of clinics in London. remarked on
the prevalence of dental carries
among English people, and espe-
cially among English children. He
wondered whether or not bad
teeth were hereditary.
He worried about this especially
because both he and his wife were
the victims of a great deal of tooth
trouble, and he was afraid this
would be passed on to his chill
dren.
Except in one respect, it seems
to me these fears are unfounded.
A noticeable thing about English
teeth is that they are badly placed
in the mouth, overlap and crowd
each other. This anatomical con-
dition undoubtedly makes for a
tendency to dental carries and un-
doubtedly also such anatomical ar
rangementS are hereditary.
Can Be Corrected
To this extent bad teeth have
a tendency to run in families.
but with modern dentistry and
dental technique, there is no
reason why these things cannot
be corrected, and with our mod
ern knowledge of the dietary in
fluence on tooth health and
tooth resistance, and with our
modern knowledge of mouth
hygiene in the way of tooth
pastes, powders, mouth washes
and tooth brushes, there is no
reason why any child's teeth can
not be corrected.
AS a matter Of fact, tooth
brushes, tooth pastes, and all our
knowledge of the influence of
diet on teeth is comparatively
modern, and certainly has not
penetrated to the population in
general. have heard it eSti-
mated that over 10000, 900 Amer
ican adults do not own a tooth
brush. 1 hope this estimate is
exaggerated, but if it should be
true, it is certainly an indica-
ton of the way in which i'm
provement can occur in this i'm
portant field Of preventive
medicine.
The familiar saying about visit
ing your dentist twice a year
may be taken as true for
adults; but certainly for chill
dren, as the permanent teeth
are coming in, this should be
changed to Take your child to a
dentist four times a year, at
least" The particular reason for
this is that between the ages OF
five and fourteen % new teeth
come in, about three teeth a
year.
Watch Carefully
Besides this, the dentine Of a
child's teeth is much softer than
that of an adult. For this reason,
once begun, decay progresses far
more rapidly in children'S teeth
than in adults.
The first permanent teeth to
come in are the first four molars
the most forward Of the back
teeth. They come in behind the
last of the temporary teeth and
are often, for this reason, assumed
to be temporary teeth also. They
come in between the fifth and
sixth years and should be watched
very carefully.
They are too often allowed to
become carious and neglected
under the impression that they are
baby teeth, and when they have
to be extracted it imperilS the
whole mouth.
Editors Note: Six pamphlets by
DR.. Clendening can now be OBJ
tanned by sending 10 cents in coin,
for each, and a self-addresSed en-
velope stamped with a three-cent
stamp, to DR.. Logan Clendening, in
care of this paper. The PAM
phlets are: Indigestion and Con-
stipation," Reducing and Gain
ing" Infant Feeding" "Instruc-
tions for the Treatment of Dia-
betes," Feminine Hygiene" and
'The Care o. the Hair and Skin" !"
Gold Lame