Teeth & health; how to lengthen life and increase happiness by proper care

Front matter

Thomas J. Ryan, D.D.S,

Edwin. F. Bowers, M.D.

RKGI ^95-

Contents

PAGE

Introduction ..... v

CHAPTER

Chapter I

There is more truth than humour in the cheap pim that says ''one can be what one chews to be." We used to esteem the teeth more as adjuncts to a pleasant smile than as practical aids to long Hfe. We regretted their loss more because of the conspicuous cavity their absence developed than because we believed them to be valuable in preserving health and happiness.

Teeth as Beautifiers. We realized, without any prompting, that no one could be quite as beautiful as Nature originally intended him to be if he suffered from a perceptible shortage of teeth — especially front teeth — or if he had a mouth full of crooked, overlapping snags — where he should have had two rows of nice, clean, serviceable teeth.

His mouth wotild be noticeably out of harmony with the remainder of his features, and the entire facial appearance would be spoiled, as a consequence.

Talking through our Teeth. Furthermore, we recognize readily the function of teeth in helping to form speech. Even the most Demosthenean and agile-mouthed individual would be labouring under a terrible handicap if he tried to say "She slithered silently through the slippery slush," with only his toothless gums to help him through the task. He could no more ''speak the speech trippingly" than he could crack any other kind of nuts.

Yet, it is only within a comparatively few years that we have come to realize the tyranny of teeth — especially bad teeth. We are only now, after a half a million years spent in sojourn upon this terrestrial sphere, learning the painful lesson that to spare the brush spoils the teeth — and sometimes the child, or the man or woman, who owns them.

Medical Men Co-operating to Preserve Teeth. And all over the country medical men and dentists are co-operating in perhaps the most important task of conservation in the world: they are awakening to the call of the child, and of the human race in general. Everywhere, dentists and physicians and enlightened men and women are aroused to the important question of dental prophylaxis (the prevention of caries, or tooth-decay), and to the loss of time, energy, and mental development due to lack of tooth-care.

You Can't Digest your Food unless you First Chew it. Science is now emphasizing the importance of teeth in preparing food for digestion. It is also calling attention to the very intimate connection between decayed teeth and a large niimber of diseases that apparently have nothing to do with teeth. A little reflection serves to show that improperly masticated food — improperly masticated because of bad teeth, or lack of teeth — is a primary cause of malnutrition, resulting in anaemia, neurasthenia, and the entire pernicious host of symptoms that follow chronic indigestion and auto-intoxication from intestinal absorption.

Tuberculosis May Have its Origin in Tooth-decay. Ulcers and cancers of the stomach have been traced to decayed teeth ; so have rheumatism and diseases of the kidneys. We are spending much time, money, and thought upon the subject of tuberculosis and its prevention; yet it does not occur to many of us that unquestionably a considerable number of cases of tuberculosis can be traced directly to the malnutrition which results from improper mastication of the food, or from the direct infection of foul mouths.

Many cases of mouth-breathing and adenoids arise because of the lack of a proper combination of brush, tooth-paste, and elbow grease — judiciously and persistently appHed. Decayed teeth may cause disease in the ears and eyes, and various other impleasant or dangerous conditions, more or less remote from the focus of infection. Ulcerated tonsils and swelling of the glands of the neck, and those very serious diseases of the cavities of the facial bones (sinus abscesses), develop quite frequently from infection of the teeth.

Teeth the Starting Point of Numerous Diseases. Almost every germ of a general infectious nature can be found in the cracks and crannies of hollow teeth — ^waiting and watching for a favourable opportimity to jimip out and poimc© upon the insufficiently-protected or fatigue-weakened organism.

Measles and German measles, chicken-pox, whooping-cough, mumps, scarlet fever, diphtheria, influenza, and smallpox have bred in the fertile soil of decayed and neglected teeth, and have manifested their presence by starting the particular kind of trouble for which evolution has designed them.

What Dr. Osier Thinks of Teeth. So great an authority as Dr. Osier, one of the world's most competent medical men, declared without reservation that more diseases are brought about by neglected and decayed teeth than by excessive indulgence in alcoholic liquors, and that there is not one single thing more important to the public in the whole range of hygiene than the hygiene of the mouth.

Nor will any family investment have the economic importance, or earn more in the way of physical and mental dividends, than scrupulous care of the teeth, and prompt and efficient dental care.

Poor Teeth not Inherited. Yet, only in the rarest instances are poor teeth inherited. In fact, we are coming to the conclusion that, unless there be a distinct scrofuloiis taint, or unless the mother, through improper diet, fails to provide for her child an adequate supply of lime salts, Nature creates all children free and equal, physiologically speaking. So bad teeth signify neglect, bad habits, uncleanliness, ignorance, and carelessness.

Forty Per Cent, of Absences from School Brought about by Tooth-decay. It is asserted that forty per cent, of all absences from school attendance are brought about because little Johnny or Susie has a previous engagement with a toothache. This is very interesting, as it touches us in our most vulnerable spot, our pocketbooks. Taking New York City as an example, 67,000 children fail in promotion to higher grades each year, owing to deficient scholarship, blamable on compulsory absence from the classrooms. While 26,800 of them are kept from school on account of pain or ulceration in their teeth.

To teach the young idea how to shoot costs thirty-six dollars a year a yoimgster ; so that when these children have to duplicate a year's work we lose a million dollars. The loss of that sum falls on the parents who have to pay the taxes. But the greatest sufferer is the child himself, who not only has to bear the pain, but becomes apathetic and discouraged at his lack of progress, and seizes the first excuse for leaving school and swelling the ranks of unskilled workers.

Between the sixth and twelfth years — those golden years of satchel and shining morning face — the teeth are most helpless and dependent. During this period the first teeth are lost — their loss being accompanied by considerable decay — the permanent teeth meanwhile coming in. Tooth nutrition is interfered with by the pressure of the second tooth pushing outward. In addition to all this misery, the poisonous germs from diseased teeth lower the child's vitality, making him more susceptible to infectious diseases. This is one of the chief reasons why the children of the poor succumb more rapidly to these disorders than do the children of wealthier families. The poorer parents have no knowledge of dental prophylaxis. They know little or nothing of the necessity of keeping the mouth clean, and public health authorities, in general, have made little or no effort to dispel this ignorance. Consequently, disease germs find ready entrance into these unclean mouths, and establish therein most favourable groimds for residence and propagation.

The most Important Tooth we Have. The first of the permanent teeth, the sixth-year molar, is by far the most important tooth we have. It is the keystone of the dental arch, and determines to a great extent the position of all the other teeth.

When it is lost. Nature makes a determined effort to close the vacant space. This usually results in foreshortening the jaw, and throws the entire articulation "out of joint." It is one of the chief causes of irregularity in the position of later teeth, and it may be here remarked that if these sixth-year molars were preserved as they should be, few children would ever develop *'bird'* or "fox" faces, or become mouth-breathers.

Efficiency Depends on Good Teeth. This brings us back to the question of teeth and efficiency. We know positively that efficiency depends upon teeth.

A short time ago an epoch-marking experiment was tried out in the Marion School in Cleveland, Ohio. It was contended by the chairman of the oral hygiene committee of the National Dental Association that thousands of children were

lo thrown yearly upon the scrap heap of deficiency, mediocrity, or crime because of a decrease in mental and physical deficiency, due to carious teeth. Permission was given by the Cleveland Board of Education for this committee to make an exhaustive experiment to determine once and for all whether there was any appreciable connection between teeth, morals, and brains.

The Marion School was selected for the reason that it seemed to offer least favourable conditions for any increase of efficiency. It is in a congested section of the city, packed with all grades of poverty, from the picturesque to the stolid and sordid. Every note in the gamut of misery and crime is sounded within hearing distance of this schoolhouse bell.

A general dental inspection of the entire school was made by ten dentists and their assistants, under the direction of the chairman.

Only Three out of 846 with Perfect Teeth, Out of 846 children examined, only three were found whose mouth conditions were perfect — one a little Slav girl, another a Russian boy, and the third a yoimg coloured boy. Every other boy or girl in the school had cavities, or other evidences of

II decay, or else had lost one or more permanent teeth, while dozens of cases of malformed jaws and faulty occlusion (improper alinement of the teeth on the biting surface) were noted.

Forty of the worst of these cases were selected. All the children were chosen from grades between the fourth and the eighth — ^for the reason that below the fourth they could not intelligently cooperate, and above the eighth they would be too soon graduated, so that the statistical value of the experiment would be lost. The test was to prove — if it was susceptible of proof — the efficacy of healthy mouth conditions, and their effect in maintaining a high order of physical and mental development.

All varieties of children were represented in this experimental class. Among them were some of good mentality. Others were of the poorest. A physician had pronoimced one of the little girls a mental defective. There were tractable pupils, and there were incorrigibles. Three were truants on the verge of being taken into the Juvenile Court. One obstreperous and mischievous boy — ^whose sole object in life seemed to be to make trouble in the schoolroom and on the playgrounds — already had his papers made out for transfer to Boys* School, a sort of reformed reformatory.

The forty children were assembled, and the intent of the experiment was explained to them. They were to consult their parents, and report as to whether or not they would be prepared to cooperate in the work. It was required that they should permit the official dentist to put their teeth in perfect condition — ^without charge, of course — then brush their teeth three times daily, brushes and tooth powder being furnished free.

Mending Brains through the Teeth. They were also to imdergo a series of psychological tests — similar to those devised by Professor Kraepelin, in his epoch-marking studies as to the effects of alcohol upon the co-ordinating faculties and the work-ability of his subjects — and were to attend an occasional meeting.

As an added inducement, if they faithfully lived up to the requirements, each pupil was to receive a five-dollar gold-piece for Christmas. If they failed, they were to be dropped from the class.

After three days, when the second meeting was called, five children withdrew. The prospective ordeal of having their teeth put in order, with the heavy burden of scrubbing them three times daily, was too much for them. So the remainder were instructed in the proper way of brushing the teeth; that is, with a rolling motion of the brush in an up and down direction, not across, and cleansing the inner as well as the outside surfaces. To be certain that no particles of food remained even after the most careftil brushing, a thread of dental floss was to be passed between the teeth.

About this time Dr. Wallin, an expert psychologist, put the little band through a series of psychological experiments. These were calculated to test the memory, accuracy, quickness of perception, rapidity and precision of association of ideas, and rapid calculation. He made six tests — two before work was begun on the teeth, two when they were being treated, and two after a year had elapsed. The time and all technic and methods of the test were absolutely uniform.

These children were also taught how to chew their food properly, and the action of saliva was made clear to them. They were visited in their homes at irregular intervals, and their work was closely scrutinized. During the next few months eight more were dropped for failing to carry out some essential of the test — neglect in brushing the teeth, food bolting, or washing down boluses of food with tea or water before they were completely masticated.

Every assistance was accorded the children in perfecting their oral conditions ; but not one word was said to aid their mental condition, except as it concerned their mouth toilet. And nothing was done or said to single them out from the rest of the school. In fact, so unobtrusive was the work that many of the teachers had not the slightest idea as to which of their pupils were in the dental class. All improvement that was manifested could be definitely ascribed to oral hygiene alone.

An Astonishing Gain in Physical and Mental Ability, When, after a year of this regime, the final records were made by Dr. Wallin, the average gain in the psychological tests for the twenty-seven children was 99.8 per cent. — almost double what even the most optimistic of the committee had predicted it would be. Not only was the mental gain most pronoimced, but distinct physical improvement was evident in every case, and a spirit of self-respect that seemed to overcome the tendency toward truancy, disobedience, and incorrigibility had developed. The more the children had need of it, the more they seemed to improve.

One girl made the astonishing increase of 444 per cent., and another loi per cent. Six of the pupils completed their thirty-eight weeks of schoolwork in thirty -four weeks, and one bright boy did two years' work in one year. Several girls who started the tests with sallow complexions and pimpled faces, at their conclusion had bright, clear eyes and skins and rosy cheeks. One child, who had suffered greatly from flatulency and sick headache, was entirely relieved.

This experiment, now noted in medical annals, proved conclusively that by keeping the teeth in perfect condition, and living up to the laws of mouth hygiene, twenty-seven children had almost doubled their mental ability, had gained in strength and in bodily and mental endurance, and had developed marked improvement in personal appearance and in their moral natures.

How Society Benefits by Adequate Tooth-care, None will deny that the commtmity benefits^ economically and socially, when its children arc improved physically, mentally, and morally. So there should be no question as to the necessity of a nation-wide movement favouring oral prophylaxis, particularly when it is remembered that only eight per cent, of the total population of the United States has any conception of the value of teeth, or pay proper attention to them. The other ninety-two per cent, are content to suffer the pangs of toothache, and go through life with offensive breaths and unhealthy bodies — until they summon sufficient fortitude to have the teeth treated, filled, or else extracted.

More than seventy -five per cent, of all school children in the world suffer from some form of dental disease. And yet we are, in the main, neglecting this most important branch of preventive medicine. It is true that some of otir more advanced cities are interesting themselves, to a greater or less degree, in the work, and the dentists — to their great honour as a hard-working, conscientious, and learned profession — are giving liberally of their time and thought in the effort. But the merest surface of the dental needs of the himian race has thus far been touched. It will require years of education, with inconceivable tact and patience, to drive home the idea that a clean tooth rarely or never decays ; that no tooth ever can be too clean ; and that no tooth should ever be extracted while there is the slightest hope of saving it to a life of usefulness.

Preserve the "Milk Teeth." Every parent should remember that the longer the "milk teeth" (the child's first teeth) can be kept, the more regular the permanent teeth will be, and the more perfect the shape of the mouth and jaws; also that the proper time to begin the toilet of the teeth is when they are still under the gums of the child. The care of a baby's mouth should begin when it is yet a nursling. Careful wiping with a piece of clean linen moistened in warm water will do wonders to keep tender gums in sound, healthy condition — and incidentally will sweeten the infant's breath.

At the mature age of two the use of a small and very soft toothbrush should be begun, and this should be continued until the child is 102. After that it will no longer be necessary to clean the teeth ; but in all the intervening years cleanliness should be enforced — by martial law, if necessary.

It may also be remembered that during the time the second teeth are coming in — between the ages of six and twelve — the child's jaws are as plastic as modelling clay, and if there are any irregularities in the growth of the teeth they can be corrected by a skilled dentist before they produce permanent disfigurement.

Straightening Brains through the Teeth. In that form of malocclusion where one or more teeth ramble off from the main herd in a forward or backward direction, or cut their way through the gums at the wrong places, a good orthodontist (as the dental specialist is called), with the aid of time, a few pieces of wire, and a gold band clamped on some of the teeth, can perform wonders. Almost any ordinary deformity, and many extraordinary ones, are corrected permanently by these experts.

Parents should also teach children to use all their teeth. Both sides of the mouth are equally in need of exercise. If one side is favoured at the expense of the other, the other will begin soon to show evidences of irregularity and decay.

Be very certain to scrub and rub, or if necessary have a dentist scale off or polish any and all brown spots when they first make their appearance;

otherwise they will soon become black spots, and a little later cavities.

It is also advisable to refrain from picking the teeth with a pin, a fork, or the point of a knife. Quill toothpicks only should be employed, or better still, dental floss.

The Lesson of the "Movie." The New York Dental Society has lately succeeded in having a regular system of instruction in mouth hygiene introduced into the public schools. To focus the pupils* attention and deepen the impression of the lesson, they are employing moving pictures to convey the moral and adorn the tale.

The first * 'movie" scene shows Mr. Jones with a grouch that is a cross between a bear with a sore head and a sudden -tempered gentleman who has just hit a thumb instead of a tack. Corporal Jones is a victim of toothache. He opens his mouth and shows where the ache comes from, after which he resumes being a grouch.

His little daughter Mary, after a most unenjoyable breakfast, goes to school, and there is introduced for the first time to a toothbrush and its use explained to her. A great light dawns upon Mary's horizon. She sees her father in his true colours — ^not as a grumbling man hater, but as a martyr to aching teeth, plus exaggerated ideas as to how painful dentistry is.

Mary persuades Major Jones to go to a dentist — probably one who uses nitrous oxide and oxygen — and have his teeth put in order. So pleased is Colonel Jones with the results that he next orders the whole family ofE to the dentist. The final scene shows General Jones, beaming and happy, surroimded by his flock, also beaming and happy.

Insurance People also Looking into Teeth. Another indication of awakening pubHc interest in dental prophylaxis is the fact that life insurance people are now looking into hollow teeth. They are finding out many things that will save them miUions of dollars in death claims when they have completed their investigations and are ready to put their knowledge to practical uses.

Preventive dentistry has added not only to the length of life, but also to its breadth and depth, measured in terms of efficiency and happiness; and happiness, it will be remembered, Schopenhauer defines as freedom from pain.

Scientific dentists all over the world now believe that at least eighty per cent, of all dental troubles can be prevented by properly caring for the teeth from infancy to old age. The day is rapidly approaching when a toothless, snaggle- jawed individual, with a prominent breath, or a lump on his face that resembles the rear elevation of a billiard ball, will be arrested on sight by the medical police, and rushed post haste to a dental clinic, there to be detained until he is once more fit to be at large among his fellow men. This is only fair to himself and to the society he infests.

In those halcyon days to come we'll know more about the menace of dental infections. We shall understand better the necessity of prophylaxis, just as we now imderstand the necessity of segregating contagious diseases. And with these things in mind we'll not only be able, but we'll be very willing to put into practical application our knowledge of the intimate relations existing between teeth and health. For we will have discovered, and profited by, our rapidly increasing knowledge as to the real and fundamental meaning of teeth.

Chapter II Tooth Care Commences With The Grandparents

Oliver Wendell Holmes has told us that the education of the child logically Commences with the grandparents. By the same token the nutrition of the teeth commences logically with these same revered individuals.

Poor Teeth Largely Due to Poor Food. For poor teeth are largely the result of inadequate food, and consequent poor nutrition — ^not only of the individual himself, but also of his parents, and perhaps also his grandparents. ^

Indeed, I do not beHeve it is possible to overemphasize the importance of the fact that tooth-decay and tooth loss could quite generally be prevented if the parents, and the individual himself, had eaten the proper kind of food.

I am convinced that if dentists everywhere would only teach this fact, and if medical and dental examiners in public schools could only be made to realize the importance of this subject, and if they would educate both parents and schoolchildren in regard to these deficiencies, much more could be accomplished than would be achieved by all the recommendations for hygienic care, and prophylaxis and decay-prevention that could possibly be inculcated.

Not Minimizing the Importance of Dental Cleanliness. I do not mean by this statement to minimize the value of prophylaxis or of dental cleanliness in general, nor of the excellent effects of unremitting devotion to the toothbrush. All these are splendid measures, and are accomplishing a wonderful amoimt of good. But, admirable as they are, they are only a means of locking the stable door after the theft of the equine. And the equine in this case is the tooth structure itself. This is robbed of phosphates and calcium, for the reason that children, as well as adults, are fed too much '*pap," breakfast cereals and other demineralized food substances — including white bread, sugar, and meat — ^which latter is emphatically deficient in lime salts and other tooth-building material.

In fact, even vegetables, as they are ordinarily

Tooth Care

cooked in this country today — ^with the skins removed and the valuable cell salts thrown down the kitchen sink — are lacking in these valuable substances.

Where Dentists Don't Go Far Enough. Of course, it cannot be denied that it is highly necessary for dentists to prescribe mouth-washes and tooth-pastes, and to give elaborate instructions for using dental floss and for brushing the teeth regularly—in just such a way. This is very important information, and fulfils a very important purpose.

But it would be much better if dentists everywhere would teach the people that the great cause of tooth-destruction lies principally in lime and phosphorus starvation, brought about by eating — from the time the mother first conceives the child, until the individual dies of old age — a diet robbed of its minerals, totally deficient in the lime and phosphorus necessary, not only to make teeth and bones, but also to make nervous systems and brains, and to keep the marvellous functions of nutrition — regulated by the activities of the ductless glands — from going awry, and making a mess of the whole organic structure — mental, physical, and moral.

Learning from Dr. McCollum's Rats. The

epoch-maxking work of Dr. E. V. McCollum, of the School of Hygiene and Public Health of Johns Hopkins University, has proved conclusively that the removal of the vital mineral salts from our wheat, sugar, and cereal grains is one of the most far-reaching and destructive influences that confronts the American people today.

Using rats and other small animals as subjects, Prof. McCollum demonstrated that these rodents could be sickened — ^and even killed — by feeding them exclusively on a diet deficient in certain of these elements essential to growth and nutrition.

It isn't the Teeth alone that are Robbed by Improper Food. And what is true of animals in the laboratory is equally, or more, true of human beings. Thousands of cases of nervous and physical disease — of every conceivable kind, ranging from scurvy and pellagra to indigestion and neuritis — are caused by nothing more or less than an improperly selected diet, or a diet in which there is a deficiency of mineral salts or other substances that have a profound effect, not only on the nutrition of tooth and bone structure, but on the very function of life itself.

Tooth Care

Keep away from Refined Sugars. It is for this reason — more than because of the direct action of their acids upon the teeth — that I strongly urge mothers to withhold refined sugar, and candies made of lefined sugar, from their children.

For these sugars, lacking in lime and iron and other mineral salts, by their capacity for selective afiinity, abstract these salts from the bones and teeth and tissues, thereby weakening the child's vitality, and producing marked deterioration in all the structures of which they are essential constituents.

We Use too much Sugar anyhow. It must be remembered that every particle of starch consimied — ^in bread and in potatoes and other vegetables, must be converted into sugar before it can be utilized by the system to furnish heat and energy. So that normally, the child gets all the sugar he needs, anyhow.

However, if there is a craving for more, this can best be supplied either by brown, imrefined sugar or, ''natural" molasses, or else by honey, maple syrup, and all forms of sweet fruit.

In fact, fniit furnishes, in its levulose and grape sugar, a rich and dependable sotirce of energy.

Especially such fruits as dates, figs, and raisins — which are extra rich in food and fuel valuee — ^as well as in essential mineral salts. And all without any danger of undermining the tooth and bone nutrition, or the general health of your child.

Robust Health, Sound Teeth, and the Balanced Diet. So there can be no question as to the importance of an adequate diet — ^not only for the child, but also for its parents — in maintaining that proper balance of nutrition that makes for robust health, clear brains, red blood, steady nerves, and soimd teeth.

Chapter III Why The Mother Should Nurse Her Child

There is only one source from which a child's physical and dental equipment can be obtained — and this is from its mother. This is why it is absolutely imperative that mothers should see to their own condition of nutrition — if they would have their child well nourished. For this will secure to the baby the necessary calcium salts from which to build its teeth and bones, as well as to provide the child with the best there is in the way of food — which best is food prepared as Nature intended it to be prepared.

Now, many mothers who are normally fit to nurse their babies fail to discharge this important duty, chiefly because they do not realize the grave results that this neglect of obligation may entail upon the child — not only for the immediate present, but for all the days of its life.

Better Teeth from Mother's Milk. Therefore, it cannot be too strongly impressed upon mothers that the tooth and bone structure of their babies will suffer as a result of their defection. No social obligation of the mother should ever be permitted to interfere with her regular feeding of her child — from the maternal font — ^if the milk is adequate in richness and quantity, and if she is physically able to stand the strain of lactation.