Evening star., 1949-01-16
Federation Asks
Tooth Treatment
For All Schools
S56, 900 Increase in
Health Budget Urged
To Prevent Decay

A proposal that $4,000 be added
to the proposed 1850 Health De-
partment budget to provide free
tooth decay preventatives to all Dis
trict school children was made by
the Federation of Citizens Associa-
tions last night.
A special Public Health Service
team is working its way through
nine selected schools here now. offer
ing the sodium f1uoride treatment
which tests have shown cuts dental
decay by at least 40 per cent.
Benjamin Striner, chairman of the
Federation Health Committee. said
Congress will be urged to insert the
provision.
The resolution also asked that
any allocated or unallocated funds
in the Health Department which
could not be used this fiscal year be
applied to fuoride treatment pro-
gram so that it could begin with the
next school semester.
Rutland Indorses Program.
Health Officer George c. Rutland
said he was delighted" at the fed
Grafton interest and would love to
see the fluorine program cover all
schools" The Health Department
cannot add further requests to the
budget, however, he pointed out.
DR.. A. Harry OStroW. Health De-
partment dental chief. estimated
that treatments to $4,000 school
children between kindergarten and
the eighth grade would cost S56,-
1854 This would provide salaries
for dentists. hygienists and assist
ants. The department already has
the equipment needed,s the doctor
said. and cost of the chemical is
negligible.
Many of the city's private den
lists already are offering the fiuo-
ride treatment. The technique-af-
ter the teeth are characteristics
simply of swabbing the chemical
on the teeth four times, at weekly
intervals. For maximum benefit.
scientists advise the treatment be
given at the ages of 3. 7, 10 and 49,
Water Treatment Studied.
The application of the fuoride to
teeth is only one part of a double
pronged attack on dental decay,
meanwhile, built around evidence of
the beneficial effects of fluorine on
teeth.
The second study is to learn
whether amounts of the chemical,
added to city water supply, will
prevent decay. At the same time.
scientists hope to learn more about
diseases which attack the gums and
tissues surrounding the teeth, which
account for most loss of teeth in
people above IS years of age
DR.. H. Trendley Dean, director
of the National Institute of Dental
Research, pointed out that while
Americans pay half as much for.
dental treatment as they do for
medical treatment, more than 100
times as much money is devoted to
medical than to dental research.
IT doubt if s1.OOO,OO0 a year is
being devoted to dental research in
this country. as compared with
about S110,000.000 to medical re-
search" he declared. Dental serv-
ices, on the other hand, cost about
5000, 100000. as compared with
$1,700.O00.00 for medical services.
Research Funds Granted.
Scientists at the institute see the
possibility of 1uorination (f1Uorine
in water as one of the greatest
hopes for cutting decay. In areas
where water supplies contain ,f1uo-
rine naturally. up to go per cent less
decay has been found in children's
teeth, compared with areas which
are fluorine-free.
Studies, in which f1uorine is added
in one part to 100000 parts of
water, now are under way at Grand
Rapids, Mich. Evanston, ILL.,, and
Newburg, N. Y.
The National Advisory Dental Re-
search Council, meanwhile, last
light announced it has recommend
Cd approval of S62, ,498 in dental re-
search grants to private institutions.
OF primary Importance, scientists
said, is to discover how the f1uorides
prevent decay. The two strongest
indications, they said is that the
chemical either combines to make
the enamel rods of the teeth more
resistant to decay or hinders bac-