DENTAL CARIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 October 1940, Page 8

DENTAL CARIES

AMONG SMALL CHILDREN CAN BE PREVENTED BY MOTHERS VIEWS OF DENTAL NURSES. “ ‘Be true to your teeth or they will be false to you.’ The most important factor relating to the carrying out of this very wise saying is the diet of the child,” stated the Dental Nurses of the Masterton Dental Clinic when asked to comment on the incidence of dental caries among their small patients from the primary schools of the district. “It would seem that children are largely fed with the object of destroying their teeth. Soft bread and butter —a tasteless food requiring scarcely any mastication —is given instead of hard baked wholemeal bread which is so much better. Saliva protects the teeth. Bacteria live on starch and sugar: if the saliva is full of these due to an over consumption of starchy feeds and sugar they naturally thrive in the mouth, causing decay to the teeth. “An adequate diet is the most important single function promoting health. A general well-balanced diet containing a liberal supply of vegetables and fruit with milk and eggs and only a moderate or a smaller amount of cereals, meaty products and fats is indicated. Milk is essential to the growing child, and one pint daily is recommended as a larger amount spoils the appetite for other foods. “White bread is the chief offender. Wholemeal brown bread has many obvious advantages over this more refined white bread, and it has been observed that the body probably absorbs from a pound of genuine wholemeal bread at least twice as much calcium, phosphorus and iron compound as from a pound of white bread. “Sound advice to parents wishing to save their childrens’ teeth is to prohibit them sucking sweets between meals and to give them instead, honey, fruit, figs and dates—all of which contain sugar in its natural state. If these sources of sugar are taken with meals, no harm is likely to result to the teeth —especially if the natural cleansing powers of the teeth are stimulated at the end of the meal by some raw fruit such as an apple or an orange. If these fruits are beyond the average parent’s purse raw carrots may be given with the same good results. “In conclusion let it be added that if dental disease is largely a question of diet, as we believe it to be, then we must go to the homes to prevent it. Dental caries can be prevented by the mothers, not the dentists and doctors.” In view of the fact that it was revealed at a Dental Clinic committee meeting held in Masterton recently, that some 50 per cent of the Masterton primary school children were not getting dental treatment, a large attendance is anticipated at a meeeting to be held in the Lansdowne school on October 14, when steps will be taken to remedy the position. ;■