DIET AND DENTAL DISEASE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3556, 19 August 1920, Page 6

DIET AND DENTAL DISEASE.

(Published by authority o£ the Education. Department. NO 3. The last publication of this series drew atention to the great danger to ihe teeth of growing chidren, arising from the unrestricted consumption of sugar. Th; present article will deal -with 'other classes of foods which are injurious to the teeth and will conclude by indicating those foods which guarantee the successful preserOf ooin the temporary and the permanent teeth. For many years those qualified to speak authoritatively on this matter iiave declared dental disease to be easily avoidable and have proved the magnitude of the trouble in these modern times to be due largely to errors in diet and the failure to appreciate the fact that certain foods produce a free flow of healthy saliva, which is •the natural and unquestionably the most efficient means of maintaining the mouth in an hygienic condition. White bread, sweet biscuits and cake, sloppy porridge and puddings, bread and marmalade, bread and jam, .sweets, chocolate, cocoa and tea jail tend to leave the, mouth in a condition favourable to fermentation of particles of food remaining on and between the teeth. Acid is formed from this fermentation with the result that the enamel is decalcified or softened and rapid decay of the tooth substance commences.

It is hoped that it will not be long before white bread is banished from the diet of growing children and brown or wholemeal bread substituted.

Apart from the. question of fermentation. the consumption of bread made from refined flour means the children are not receiveing the essentr ’ stances of the 'living grain which are necessary for the nourishment and proper growth of their- bodies, as these have been extracted during the preparation of the flour. Biscuits other than the plain wholemeal kind, are easily fermentable in the mouth and when sweetened are still more undesirable on this account. Porridge should be made from oatmeal as stiff .as the child can take it, the idea being to ooeourage mastication and eliminate the practice of gulping this food so common with most • young children. Chocolate, cocoa and tea taken as beverages aQ tend to check the flow of saliva thus aiding the process of fermentation of whatever food remains clinging to the teeth after food. Fortunately there is an easy'remedy for conditions of stagnation of mouth after food. Fresh fruit, especially orange and apple, will produce an immediate and copious flow of sali•va and as it is recognised that aill foods which are injurious to the teeth cannot be readily. banished from the average diet of to-day, parents should make sure such foods are followed by fresh fruit.

Apples are cheap and plentiful in this country and the effect of a piece of this ripe fruit at the end of a meal is highly beneficial in preventing fermentation and in cleaning the teeth. It is pointed out that the taking of food at all houre. which is so common with children in most families is very undesirable and such a practice not only favours fermentation and acid formation in the mouth but also entails the constant flow of the digestive juices which become weakened in strength and restricted in quantity.

Wholemeal or brown bread, toast, crusts, boiled fish, soup, butter, green vegetables and fresh fruit, arc a+l articles of what may bo'termed an hygienic diet, that is, they encourage an adequate supply of healthy saliva. It must be understood that it is advisable that in all cases fresh fruit should end the meal. Children are very adaptable and a. proper regime with regard to the rational consumption of food is not difficult to establish. A'il robust children from the time they are in possession of' their temporary molars should be restricted to three meals a day. As the infant passes from the purely milk to the more solid diet the milk should be more and more dilutjf with water. A dietary embracing the three daily meals is given below and the foods selected from those enumerated will ensure adequate nourishment to ,1 ’ growing child, with sufficient mastication. It will be understood that variations in the number, kind and quantity' of foods will bo observed . recording to the age of the child. The? ages considered range from two to twelve vears.

Breakfast: —Porridge made (from oatmeal) as stiff as possible or Grancse made in a similar manner. Toasted brown bread and butter (never hot Buttered toast) well cooked or toasted Bacon, milk and water or plain water. Fresh fruit, as a piece of orange or apHe. Dinner: —Oven-heated bmwn bread bread with butter, meat, boiled fish, •o- -;-dfrv. Cooked vegetables. ’■ t -nrretahiles such as le +< " cress, radish, celery, milk pudding baked apple or fresh fruit as a piece

of apple or orange. Soup if g should be vegetable soup by preference. Tea: —Porridge or Granose (made drove) or occasionally milk pudding, .ousted or oven-dried brown bread am jutter. Milk and wafer or plain wai; . Fresh fruit as a piece of orange or apple. Eggs lightly boiled should be given very sparingly until after two years of age. Meat is not considered necessary up to two years of age, but ma, be added later. Grated cheese b toast or with other foods is easily gested by children. Sugar, jam. an' honey should be restricted to a ; mum honey being preferable to \ former,

Quite recently at a public niecti of three days duration at Manchester under the auspices of the Food Education Society of Great Britain the fact that Jewish children had better teeth than Gentile was attributed to differences in diet an important factor being the Jews use of oil instead of sugar. Dr. James Wheatley the County and School Medical Officer for Shropshire produced a record of investigations in the elementary schools of that country showing that the restriction of the sugar supply during the war, the a'ltered character of the bread, and the reduced consumption of milk had been accompanied by a remarkable diminution of dental caries. Parallel with the attention to a ra- - Tb

tional or hygienic diet care must be displayed iu the choice and preparation of foods in order that these substances which have been found by experiment to be’ necessary to the proper growth of the body, shall not be either absent or destroyed by heat in over-cooking. This question of the “Vitamines”, as these substances are called, will form the subject of the next publication in this series.