Bad Eyesight as a Result of Bad Teeth.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 24 July 1914, Page 8

Bad Eyesight as a Result of Bad Teeth.

There have been instances of blind-? ness resulting from extracting teeth, but these are rare. On the other hand, specialists in eye troubles have frequently found the trouble with their patients' eyes to come from decaying teeth. .

One specialist suspected his patient's eye trouble was due to bad teeth, and made a careful examination of the mouth, even having a skilled dentist to examine the mouth. So far as could be found there were no bad teeth ; still the eye specialist was not satisfied and had his patient's mouth photographed by the X-ray., The result of this proved the correctness of the specialist's diagnosis, for beneath what appeared to be solid gold fillings and crowns he discovered some abscesses. They were not of a nature to make the patient suspect he had them, but they were acting on th«. s^. optic nerves, and were^really all thatjHrwas making the trouble with his eyesight. Eye specialists are getting more and more to understand, the evil effects btyd teeth have on the eyes, and many obstinate cases of impaired eyesight which in the past could not be. remedied are now actually cured by curing the bad teeth, and thus removing, the cause. It is claimed that there are no special teeth that alone affect the eyes when these teeth become decayed, but that nearly, if not every, tooth has some bad effect upon the eyesight if the tooth is not attended to. At the same time bad upper teeth have a much worse effect upon the eyesight ' than bad lower teeth. Therefore, there; is another reason, and a most important one, Why bad teeth should be remedied at once, and also there is reason to believe that many more cases of impaired eyesight will be. cured now that it is known whai part the bad teeth play in the matter. Care should be taken to watch the children. Sometimes their eyesight bothers them while their teeth seem in good condition. The chances are there are decaying spots at the roots of the teeth which are not visible, but which may be having an injurious effect upon the eyesight,;