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Care of the teeth and child-welfare
21)8
International Journal of Orthodontia and Oral Surgery
skulls from an old Esquirnaux graveyard that they did not suffer from caries. But today they have added fine flour and molasses to their dietary and are afflicted with caries. It has been stated frequently by some authorities that masticating hard food acts as a preventive of tooth decay by giving the jaws exercise and that a great deal of the decay existing is due to the ingestion of soft pappy foods. However, Turner is inclined to throw some cold water on the theory and is of the opinion that big jaws and fine teeth are more a racial characteristic than a product of much use of the teeth. So far as diet is concerned, he points out that the eating of fruit decidedly cleans the teeth on account of its acid content. With regard to the prevention of caries, Turner insists that the one essential is thorough cleaning, that is, every tooth which is exposed in the cavity of the mouth should be well rubbed once a day. The toothbrush must be supplemented by the use of waxed silk thread so as to scour each interstitial surface. At all schools a nurse's time would be well spent in teaching and supervising the cleaning of children's teeth, and such teaching should be begun at the earliest possible age. It is urged that if this plan were conscientiously carried out much of the dental caries which now exists so widely would be prevented and at the same time the sequelae of prolonged dental disease would never occur. Turner lays down as the great principle of treatment that septic teeth are far more injurious than absence of teeth and that therefore the treatment of both caries and pyorrhea when well established should be carried on somewhat on the lines of forestry, removing some to isolate others. That artificial teeth are not a necessity is a statement with which many persons will find fault, although it is doubtless true that some of the mechanical dentistry which is undertaken nowadays does more harm than good. From the esthetic standpoint alone artificial teeth are more or less essential and the scientific dentist is as necessary for the proper conduct of the hygiene of the mouth as the all 'round hygienist and sanitarian is to the preservation and maintenance of the public health. The value of the dentist has been conclusively demonstrated by the war.
Care of the Teeth and Child-Welfare
T
H E Council of National Defense, although originally created for the purpose of fostering and promoting our war activities, has extended its sphere of influence and proved its value in such a manner as to merit being continued as a permanent institution. Take, for instance, the Child-Conservation Section of the Field Division. Of course, the movement of promoting child conservation is an entirely proper one, on purely economic grounds, as an appropriate field for the activities of the Council of National Defense. It gains additional importance, since a serious and somewhat humiliatingly large proportion of the young men were found physically defective during the selective-service examinations. The point of these remarks is, to refer to the recent suggestion, by the ChildConservation Section, to the state chairmen of child-welfare, according to which
Editorials
289
lessons on the care of the teeth are to be given by the teachers in the public schools. The examination of many thousands of school-children in this and other countries shows that nearly all have dental defects.. The results of these defects are innumerable, the most immediate being, a considerable impairment of the power to comminute the food. If there are too few teeth, or if they are broken, decayed or otherwise unfit for doing the work of chewing, or if they are so irregular that the grinding surfaces do not meet properly, mastication will not be complete, so that the other digestive organs will have to do the work neglected by the teeth. Digestive disturbances inevitably follow. Many forms of illness result from the presence, among the roots of decaying teeth, of tiny pus-pockets, which continually discharge their poisonous contents into the blood stream. Furthermore, there is abundant evidence to show that the bacteria of disease, including those of tuberculosis and diphtheria, find lodgment in dental cavities and in irregularities of the teeth. The neglect of proper cleanliness increases the possibility of attack by many kinds of disease. While all this is rather elementary, it may serve to suggest to dentists and physicians just those terms and words that they might employ in teaching their patients to practice suitable care for the preservation of not only their own teeth, but even more especially, of those of their children.
Permanent Staff Appointments of Forsyth Dental Infirmary COMPETITIVE examination of graduates in dentistry (of less than three years' standing) for appointments to positions on the Permanent Staff for full and one-half time service will be held early in June at the Forsyth Dental Infirmary. Appointments will be made for one or two years as follows: Full time service requiring operating five and one-half days a week at a salary of $1000 a year; One-half time service requiring operating six half-days a week, either forenoon or afternoon, at a salary of $500 a year. These appointments will be made subject to satisfying the requirements of the Massachusetts State Board of Registration in Dentistry and to "qualifying" in the practical work of the clinics during one month's trial. Members of this staff are entitled to the advantages of reports and clinics by experts in the various branches of Dentistry from different parts of the world in addition to the numerous special and regular clinics and lectures. Operators after serving four months are eligible, by qualifying, for appointments in the special clinics where Post Graduate work is given. The operators on this staff have the advantage of the clinics and lectures of the Post Graduate School of Orthodontia. The Infirmary clinics provide unusual advantages in the various departments of the institution where Operative Dentistry, Orthodontia, Nose and Throat and Oral Surgery, Extracting, Novocaine Technic, Radiography, Pathological Diagnosis and Research work are continually carried on.
A
International Journal of Orthodontia and Oral Surgery
skulls from an old Esquirnaux graveyard that they did not suffer from caries. But today they have added fine flour and molasses to their dietary and are afflicted with caries. It has been stated frequently by some authorities that masticating hard food acts as a preventive of tooth decay by giving the jaws exercise and that a great deal of the decay existing is due to the ingestion of soft pappy foods. However, Turner is inclined to throw some cold water on the theory and is of the opinion that big jaws and fine teeth are more a racial characteristic than a product of much use of the teeth. So far as diet is concerned, he points out that the eating of fruit decidedly cleans the teeth on account of its acid content. With regard to the prevention of caries, Turner insists that the one essential is thorough cleaning, that is, every tooth which is exposed in the cavity of the mouth should be well rubbed once a day. The toothbrush must be supplemented by the use of waxed silk thread so as to scour each interstitial surface. At all schools a nurse's time would be well spent in teaching and supervising the cleaning of children's teeth, and such teaching should be begun at the earliest possible age. It is urged that if this plan were conscientiously carried out much of the dental caries which now exists so widely would be prevented and at the same time the sequelae of prolonged dental disease would never occur. Turner lays down as the great principle of treatment that septic teeth are far more injurious than absence of teeth and that therefore the treatment of both caries and pyorrhea when well established should be carried on somewhat on the lines of forestry, removing some to isolate others. That artificial teeth are not a necessity is a statement with which many persons will find fault, although it is doubtless true that some of the mechanical dentistry which is undertaken nowadays does more harm than good. From the esthetic standpoint alone artificial teeth are more or less essential and the scientific dentist is as necessary for the proper conduct of the hygiene of the mouth as the all 'round hygienist and sanitarian is to the preservation and maintenance of the public health. The value of the dentist has been conclusively demonstrated by the war.
Care of the Teeth and Child-Welfare
T
H E Council of National Defense, although originally created for the purpose of fostering and promoting our war activities, has extended its sphere of influence and proved its value in such a manner as to merit being continued as a permanent institution. Take, for instance, the Child-Conservation Section of the Field Division. Of course, the movement of promoting child conservation is an entirely proper one, on purely economic grounds, as an appropriate field for the activities of the Council of National Defense. It gains additional importance, since a serious and somewhat humiliatingly large proportion of the young men were found physically defective during the selective-service examinations. The point of these remarks is, to refer to the recent suggestion, by the ChildConservation Section, to the state chairmen of child-welfare, according to which
Editorials
289
lessons on the care of the teeth are to be given by the teachers in the public schools. The examination of many thousands of school-children in this and other countries shows that nearly all have dental defects.. The results of these defects are innumerable, the most immediate being, a considerable impairment of the power to comminute the food. If there are too few teeth, or if they are broken, decayed or otherwise unfit for doing the work of chewing, or if they are so irregular that the grinding surfaces do not meet properly, mastication will not be complete, so that the other digestive organs will have to do the work neglected by the teeth. Digestive disturbances inevitably follow. Many forms of illness result from the presence, among the roots of decaying teeth, of tiny pus-pockets, which continually discharge their poisonous contents into the blood stream. Furthermore, there is abundant evidence to show that the bacteria of disease, including those of tuberculosis and diphtheria, find lodgment in dental cavities and in irregularities of the teeth. The neglect of proper cleanliness increases the possibility of attack by many kinds of disease. While all this is rather elementary, it may serve to suggest to dentists and physicians just those terms and words that they might employ in teaching their patients to practice suitable care for the preservation of not only their own teeth, but even more especially, of those of their children.
Permanent Staff Appointments of Forsyth Dental Infirmary COMPETITIVE examination of graduates in dentistry (of less than three years' standing) for appointments to positions on the Permanent Staff for full and one-half time service will be held early in June at the Forsyth Dental Infirmary. Appointments will be made for one or two years as follows: Full time service requiring operating five and one-half days a week at a salary of $1000 a year; One-half time service requiring operating six half-days a week, either forenoon or afternoon, at a salary of $500 a year. These appointments will be made subject to satisfying the requirements of the Massachusetts State Board of Registration in Dentistry and to "qualifying" in the practical work of the clinics during one month's trial. Members of this staff are entitled to the advantages of reports and clinics by experts in the various branches of Dentistry from different parts of the world in addition to the numerous special and regular clinics and lectures. Operators after serving four months are eligible, by qualifying, for appointments in the special clinics where Post Graduate work is given. The operators on this staff have the advantage of the clinics and lectures of the Post Graduate School of Orthodontia. The Infirmary clinics provide unusual advantages in the various departments of the institution where Operative Dentistry, Orthodontia, Nose and Throat and Oral Surgery, Extracting, Novocaine Technic, Radiography, Pathological Diagnosis and Research work are continually carried on.
A