MAINLY ABOUT TEETH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 7, 9 June 1913, Page 8

MAINLY ABOUT TEETH.

HEALTH TALK BY DB ■ • OME. When the Brotherhood first began its i'v'j I 1;. gv,M : interesting addresses, which might best be termed "Health Tnlks" i" "'hieh Tip imparted mucli miunuabiuu, uui.ii inter-(.-./Jug &uu uoCl.il. xuavo'iuij aUemoon, ir-Tibers of tlu- Brotherhood were fortunate a fvthor lecture, in which ciie Doctor had something to say uj.oii iliu subject of diet, and, as he explained, ''not so much upon food, but upon feeding." The speaker prefaced remarks with some observations on the Haigh diet, the "no breakfast scheme," which once took such a violent hold upon Wanganui, and various other fads and fancies. In the former diet, Dr. Haigh had forbidden all foods which contained uric acid. The public, of course, liked to get hold of a theory like that, but it was hardly fair to uric acid, when it had not been ■' proved to be the cause of all those ills which Dr. Haigh had ascribed to it. True, uric acid was a waste product, but so were ashes, and was it fair tg blame the ashes from the boiler because the engine had wrong? Dr. Home's opinion on diets might, perhaps, be summed up irf his observation that every man's interior had its own set of bylaws. It behoved every man. to find out what food agreed with him, but when that had been done, it was little use proclaiming to mankind that which suited him, was the best for everybody else. ' OUR TEETH, The speaker proceeded to enlarge on the fact that the benefit of food did not lie in the amount a man swallowed, but in the amount he assimilated. The teeth of civilised man were the process of evolution. Decay of teeth began in childhood. And one of the causes of decay was that we all had our foods too carefully cooked, too soft, and so easy to dissolve in the mouth, that they did not require chewing." He referred to the fact that the Jaws were not properly exercised, and as a result our teeth were getting gradually crowded out. We J had now thirty-two 'teeth, but in the course of a few generation's, we would probably have only twenty-eight. Many people, even now, had no room for their wisdom teeth. An interesting point mentioned by the Doctor, was that it ( had recently been recognised decayed | teeth caused a minute quantity of poison every day to be absorbed into the body. Immediate effects were not felt. I but those and pains which we called I rheumatism might be ascribed to neglect in calling in the dentist. Amidst general laughter, the Doctor explained that he had no shares in any dental company.