SUGAR AND DENTAL DISEASE.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 2 July 1920, Page 4

SUGAR AND DENTAL DISEASE.

Article Published under the Authority • of the Education Department. Examination lias proved that, over 9< per cent of scheol children in th< Dominion are suffering from dental dis ease. Experience has proved that thb , disease is primarily responsible foi many others. It is the one disease above all others on which the public should concentrate its attention. It affects almost every member of the community. It begins in childhood. It lowers' the health and resisting power ol' the child and conscciuenll. predisposes to tuberculosis and discus generally. It is impossible to exag gcratc. the suffering and economic los caused to the community by this up parently trivial but really terrible dis case. Research goes to prove that the us< of free sugar is one of ine most pre 'ominant causes of dental disease. B, dee sugar is meant that not includein the natural composition ol fruit am other foods. Dental disease will pro ;ress in proportion to the eonsuniptio >f free sugar. It is the duty of parents guardians and all who have the iiitere; f the health and economic welfare ol the Dominion at heart to realise this ( iundamenta 1 truth. They shout-: realise that in allowing and eneourng * in" their children to consume largt : (juanlilics ot sugar in the loiin oi chocolate and sweets generally they are laying in store for them suffering and ill health and endangering then future welfare. It musl be made clem that the common craving lor sugar i mi acquired one, that ehiidren in tcpast did not get sugar, and thnl 1 I allow them to develop the craving is ; I positive cruelty. } Xut niilv should sugar and distinctly I augury foods be kept down to a mini mum. bill also the eating ot sweet Ids cuils, chocolate and confect ioneiy should be discouraged. These toe-! j consist almost altogether ol highly re i lined slareli and sugar, which is m ideal combination for lodging about thteeth. At the same time it does not I •simulate but weakens llto flow ot I saliva. Hence it is not readily wadi-, i out of the crevices, but remains tin - to undergo acid fermentation and <!•: ..trov the enamel of the teeth, ft inot necessarily intended to condemn these refined foods absolutely and banish them entirely from our diet, but rather that their use should be restricted instead of their occupying a prominent place in our -hot and being ; taken at such very frei|tieiit intervals Sugar causes harm in more ivavs than by its indirect action in the mouth a lid upon the teeth and flow oi saliva. AVlien taken in any quantity it causes congestion of the mucous lining ,1 r ilie stomach and leads to catarrh, disturbed nutrition and much vague ill-health. It: gives rise in children to that very common and vague ailment — ' mucous disease—which has been aptly termed by on eminent medical aulhorii\- '*ike dyspepsia of sweet-eating children.” Replacing the excess of sugar and roJiucd starchy foods by more coarse-grained and albuminous hoods tends with little other treatment 1' to restore health. Sugar Unnecessary and Harmful, free sugar is not necessary to human I health and nutrition. It has only heI come a common article of diet during , comparatively modern times, and only during the last- oO or 100 years has its consumption increased to the present enormous extent. Three hundred years ago sugar was a very rare luxury, and jvas unobtainable except in an apothecary's shop. During the 17 years preceiling HUH) the quantity of sugar consumed in America rose from nearly 10 Hi per head to more than live times that amount. Since that* it has increased enormously. A similar rapid increase has taken place in England. The consumption of sugar per head in Xew Zealand for the year IS7S was lid lib: in PH:: il teas 111-jlb, nearly twice the amount. This means an aver- • ago consumption for each individual of I about J i'-lb per day. Dental disease ; in its present magnitude is also'com- ' parativelv modern. :uvl its increase has been parallel to. that of sugar consumption and other modern dietetic errors. in the medical inspection of school" | a noticeably smaller amount of decay ■ ( 0 f the teeth has been found to prevail ’ at the smaller out-of-the-wav schools. ( The factor deciding this difference api pears to be the-absence of sweet —or * confectioners ’ —shops. Where no such | shops are within reach of the school the teeth are on the average in better I condition.- The difference is evident I between schools only a few miles apart. I where one has and the other lias not a. sweet shop in the neighbourhood. Such shops are frequently situated only a few doors from schools and trade busily with the children at lunch hour. Apart from their destructive effect upon the teeth, these shops interfere with the children eating x ,ro P er lunches. So long as these temptations are there to act upon their childish tastes the inculcation in children of healthy dietetic habits r./ v .ars a forlorn hope. 'When the Europeans first came to Xew Zealand the. Maori? ate coarser and more natural food and had perfect teeth. Xow the Maori has adopted our dietetic habits and liis teeth have been reduced to almost the same deplorable state as our own. The Government lias inaugurated a scheme to treat dental disease in school children. This'c-an only be regarded as palliative. Xo real progress can be made unless fundamental causes arc dealt with. For this reason parents are urged to give their serious consideration to the' suggestions given in this and other articles e>f the series. lu the next article it is intended to deal further with the subject of diet in relation to the teeth.