HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Chronicle (Levin), 21 November 1946, Page 7

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

FEED YOUR TEETH \ , (By the Department of Health.) Oue of our national sh-ortcomings is dental decay. The whole story of the why and whe-refbre of d'ental caries is . not known. But it xsj by no mea-ns a closed book. Certain pages are open. lveep your teeth clean and1 they will' , last better. Keep your teeth welL fedi ; and they will- decajy . less. These are lcnown faets, but we are not applying them as a nation. There is undoubtedly something in j this business of feeding teeth. Largescale dental snrveya of five-year-otd ! children in London. school& in 1929 and 1943 showed much impro.vement bo-th in the, structm-e of the deciduous teeth, and in their resistance to decay. in 1929 only 8 per cent. of the children had teeth. of perfect structure; this had risen to 19 per cent. in 1943. In 1929 58 per cent. had soft, defeetively made teeth, reduced to 33 per cent. in 1943. In 1929 only five children in each hundred were free of dental decay, but 22 in everv hundred showed no- caries in °1943, These improvements are credited to changed feeding babits fo-rced on the people by the war, and. to the cheap milk scheme begun in 1934. Wartime brought inereased allowances of milk. cod liver oil and fruit juices to expectant and nursing. mothers, to babies and young children. Teeth feeding, of eourse, begins before birth, and must continue afterwards, if good Iraby and seeond teeth are wa-nted. Gtlier things that helped were the addition of vi-ta-mins A and D to margarine, and the reinforcing of bread with' c-alclum or lime. In animal feeding experiments these dietary factors have been proved to inliuence teeth. Wherever these factors have been ample in the diet, babies' and children 's teeth have, been un; doubtedly better than when these things are under-supplied. Lime, phosphorns and vitamin D in adequate amounts are necessary for hard decay resistant teeth. The expectant and nursing mother and the growing child will get enough of these things only if the diet is balanced in milk, cheese, eggs, whole eereals, vegetables and fish or meal, and if, in addition to the butter ration, lish liver oils are taken daily and as much sunshine allowed on the skin as may be practicable.