OUR BABIES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 624, 3 December 1913, Page 6

OUR BABIES.

Published under the auspices ol" the Society for the Health of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." THE BUILDING OF SOUND TEETH. THE PREVENTION OF DECAY, ADENOIDS, ETC. London, October 31. g This question in ail its bearings was discussed exhaustively by the distinguished dental surgeons from all countries who attended the International Medical Congress, and we only regretted that it: was impossible to give due attention to certain of the important mpsrs in other sections without missing some of the special dental contributions, lit id siofc easy to grasp the magnitude and significance of a Medical i:' Congress with an enrolment of acme 8000 members, meeting simultaneously in 2 entirely separate sections in various ;placen, spread over this great city of London—by far the largest Medical Congress that, has ever taken place. However, knowing that sound, welldeveloped mouth, jaws, teeth, and airways of the nose and throat are matters of the very first importance for the rising generation, ar.d .holding that decayed teeth, adenoids, etc., are really the" gravest diseases of the present day in their far-reaching consequences, we decided to miss nothing essential in these matters, whether they came up for consideration in the dental or any other section. In one sense, so far as the rearing of infants is concerned, there is little to add to what is set forth in the Society's book. "Feeding and Care of Baby" and little to add to beyond what Dr Pickerill, Professor of Dentistry at Otago University, has been impressing on the public of New Zealand for the last few years. THE CURSE OF IDLENESS. The curae of "pap-feeding," the need of timely exercise for mouth, tongue, jaws, teeth, and salivary glands—achieved by giving babies from weaning time, onwards more and more of hard, dry, tough, or fibrous foods—the importance of avoiding sweet, sticky substances which cling to the teeth, and the value of raw fruit such as apples properly masticated—these were the main points dwelt on at the congress in this conj nection. THE REMEDY RESTS WITH THE PUBLIC. But if for the most part the dental authorities had no new gospel to preach, it was because what their leading men have been telling us for yearsgoast practically embraces the whole truth. What the public in general, and parents in particular, now have to do, if they want to ensure good, sound, efficient, long-lasting chewing and breathing organs, is to see to it thai; no baby of the future lacks "What Every Baby Needs"—as laid down in the first two pages of the Society's books—and especially that mouth, jaws, and teeth have plenty of work to do from start to finish—no spoiled "bottle-feds" or milksops, brought up pale, fat, and flabby on patent foods pan, sweeties, etc. I shall probably refer later to several very interesting papers, tracingvarious ailments back to bad teeth. Meantime, the following summary may be interesting:--PAPERS AND DEMONSTRATIONS AT THE CONGRESS. 1. Address by Dr Juljan Zilz (Hungary).—Dr Zilz showed sections of Jaws and teeth to demonstrate that tubercle bacilli and other microbes establish colonies in the cavities of decaying teeth, and are capable of spreading thenea and invading the threat, and ether parts of the system. Assuming this to be the case decaying teeth must be regarded as direct sources of consumption. Of course,, it has always been recognised that bad teeth, indigestion, etc., undermine health and rssiJtiveness, and thus strongly predisposs to catch the disease—quite apart from the question as to whether bad teeth actually harbour and grow tubercular microbes. 2. Dr Mitchell, of Edinburgh, showed a series of beautiful micmesupic specimens, clearly demonstrating the presence of colonies cf tubercle bacilli in chronically enlarged swollen tonsils etc.,, amply confirming what others had found in the same tissues. 3. Numerous cases were cited by various members as to the way in which decay of teeth and "dirtiness" of the mouth had given rise to inflamed tonsils, and sore throat, followed by rheumatic fever and other grave maladies—the tendency of attacks of these diseases being removed by keeping the month clean, after proper stopping or complete extraction of all decayed teeth. Further, many cas°s were referred to <v?feere the nervous irritation associated with decayed teeth had given rise to grave nervous and other disturbances,