CARE OF TEETH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 28 August 1942, Page 2

CARE OF TEETH

HOW THEY REACT TO WARTIME DIETS

CAUSES OF DENTAL DECAY (By A. D. Brice, 8.D.5.) Why are teeth of modern civilised man so often a cause of pain and an inoyance? We suffer in getting them, | they cause constant worry while he | have them, and eventually involve a minor surgical operation when we discard them. That faulty diets and j insufficiency of protective foods are major causes of dental disea.se is shown in the following article, which is | approved for publication by the New ! Zealand Association of Scientific Workers. Teeth still remain one of New Zea- , land's major public health problems. The incidence of dental decay remains stubbornly at a level which, if it has ceased to be alarming, has lost this ; quality only through familiarity. I Unfortunately few statistics are ' available of the conditions of the teeth of New Zealand’s soldiers in the last I war, but the fact that this country j was among the first to establish an ; Army Dental Corps, which grew rapidjly and carried out a considerable : amount of conservative and reparative | work among troops in the field, in training camps, base depots and troop ships, gives some indication of the need which j then existed. ' In the present war, the New Zea- ! land Dental Corps has already outstripped in size the establishment of 1 1914-18. Figures published by per- , mission of the defence authorities injdicate that over 60 per cent. of the I men entering the armed services in the | first few months of the present war j were wearing artificial dentures, and that a high proportion of the remaini der required extensive conservative ; treatment No doubt a greater appreciation of the need is responsible for the increased amount of service now I being provided. A LESSON IGNORED i It is certain, however, that this country has seen no lessening of the | incidence of dental decay in the j twenty-odd years between wars. It is poor consolation perhaps, but the in--1 dications are that our lead in this respect over other English speaking countries has shortened. World War No. 1 taught us a lesson, and in human ; fashion we declined to learn it. New Zealand, unlike England, did not have ihe lesson at first hand, but on this occasion there is every possibility that we shall In the last war England knew “austerity”—perhaps to a greater extent than we shall know it this time —and both England and the rest of the world could have extracted some profit from its lessons. Let us hope that this time from the lesson which we must all learn in greater or less degree, we shall derive more lasting benefit. | There is well authenticated evidence I that in England because of the nutritional and other conditions which reigned from 1914 to 1918 there was a marked reduction in the amount of dental decay, especially in children, in whom the disease is always most evident and least responsive to measures of control. To mention only one source of information, Dr James Wheatley, then Medical Officer of Health for Shropshire, published a series of reports which have been frequently quoted by the Chief Medical Officer to the Ministry of Health. These reports make it clear beyond all doubt that the teeth of the school child had benefited from the dietary changes which were enforced upon wartime Britain. It is more or less common knowledge that though food in general was scarce, ; the most marked change was the ex- ! treme shortage of sugar, the disappearance of all manner of confectionery, the “coarsening” of the bread, and the lack of cakes, pastries and the like PROTECTIVE FOODS It is of interest, too, that medical Knowledge of what are now known as the “protective” foods was then in its infancy. Efforts to reinforce the diet with vitamins, mineral salts, etc., were ; limited. In spite of all this there was a distinct reduction in the amount of dental decay among the children oi England. Children entering the schools during the later years of the war and for a short period immediately following it, came with more sound teeth per child, while among those already at school there were ■ fewer new defects noted. , This improvement did not last, j During the between-war years teeth □ecame worse. This a reflection of the failure to profit by the evidence that was at hand. Reports indicate that there has been an improvement in the general nutrition of the British j school child, but this has not found ‘its counterpart in the dental condition, j The return oi the people to theii ! “old loves” was evident in the steadily I increasing consumption of the food- ! stuffs whose main constituents are : sugar and the other fermentable • substances (cereal starches). The j presence ol these in the mouth is an i initial factor in the process of disntegration known as dental caries Here in New Zealand, sugar is now subject to rationing. Confectionery, biscuits, cakes, if not short, are less plentiful. We accept this as a wartime penalty—a necessary evil that must be borne. Stranger things have happened than that out of such small .ribulations should grow some good result. It will be of more than passing interest to see whether history will ! not repeat itself; whether in New Zealand and again in England there is not a reduction of dental decay in direct proportion to the degree of “austerity” which the war finally imposes. Would it be too much to hope that this time this simple lesson may be well and truly learnt? Although not a war-measure of itself, a serious attempt, arising out of knowledge that the war has brought home to us, has been made to improve the nutritive quality of our bread; and although the present measure (the addition of wheat germ to the flour) tails to satisfy those whose primary interest is the denial condition. the step is regarded as being in the right direction. This war has once more reminded j us that all is not well with our dental state. It has given us some indication of the economic loss we sustain by allowing this condition to continue. It is highly probable that we shall. once again have a very practical demonstration of the means that must be adopted to overcome it.