The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-10-25
NOTIFIED ENAMEL

An officer of the U. s. Public
Health Service reported in 1901 q
notified state of the enamel of the
teeth of italian emigrants coming
from district a few miles from
Naples. The same enamel defect
has been fornd in residents of sew
eral districts In this country. In
1927 other health officers of the
U. S. bureau learned that the Ital-
ian district had changed its water
supply since 1901 and the resident
of the district no longer has mottled
enamel.
| Notified enamel makes the teeth
appear ghastly Opaque white,
quite unlike the normal lustre OF
the teeth, and in many instances
gives the teeth brown or yellow
stain, in some cSseS the teeth ap-
pear almost blaZk. The form of the
teeth is not affected.
The condition is rarely seen in
the temporary teeth. Most instances
of notified enamel are in school
children.
Once the stain develops it is IT.
removable.
The condition is due to the
presence of fluorides in the drink
ing water. The only way to eradi-
cate the trouble when it affects a
considerable number of persons
residing in the community is to
change the public water supply to
a source known to cause no, such
trouble, or to import drinking water
from a source of known purity.
Dental Care in Pregnancy
During pregnancy there is an in
creased requirement for calcium
PHOSPHORUS and the essential vita
minis. If the woman's daily intake
of these is not much greater than
what might b. sufficient to prevent
deficiency disease in her ordinary
condition, the growing fetus will
not exactly take the calcium and
PHOSPHORUS out of the mothers
teeth but, being a parasite, will
have first call on the limited in
take Of the essential minerals and
vitamins for building bones, teeth,
etc., so that the mothers own
bones, nerves, teeth, etc., are bound
to suffer from nutritional deficiency.
That. is why SO many expectant
mothers suffer rapid softening and
decay of the teeth. There is no
mystery about it all. Simply nutri-
tional deficiency.
We have been trying to din this
simple physiological truth into the
consciousness of the expectant
mother for years. In most instances
it goes in one ear and out the
other.
Not only for the sake of her own
teeth but for the sake of the baby,s
teeth, bones, nerves, muscles-and
the mothers as well-it ought to be
the routine practice for every ex-
pectant mother to supplement her
carefully planned the diet may be-
with good ration of calcium,
PHOSPHORUS and sunshine vitamin
d in one form or another.
"Toxis" Goiter
Please give your opinion of the
treatment of toxic goiter with X
rays. CA. d.
Answer-It would. be risky to put
yourself in the hands of a charlatan
such as the one who distributes the
pamphlet you inclose. A doctor or
specialist who is good can keep
fairly busy taking care of people
sent to him by his satisfied patients.
In the hands of physician skilled
in its use X-ray Is sometimes ex-
cellent treatment for exophthalmic
goiter.
FibrOid
Doctor has advised operation to
remove fibroid tumor of uterus. Is
surgery the only remedy? Is there
no other treatment that might
cure? (Mrs. B. H. j.
Answer-In many cases of fibroid
tumor X-ray treatment Is sufficient,
provided the sterility usually induc-
ed by X-ray treatment is not bar.
Such tumors may never cause any
serious trouble-in fact women with
fibroidS (myomata) sometimes learn
only accidentally of the presence of
the tumors. Fibroid should not be
confused with cancer. If fibroid
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