ABOUT TEETH by Lizzie Leonard Martin

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 21, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 21.

ABOUT TEETH.

By Lizzie Leonard Martin

BY LIZZIE LEONARD MARTIN.

CHILDREN should be trained when very young to clean their teeth regularly, and to rinse out their mouth after each meal. The best dentifrice is charcoal powder. Besides cleaning the teeth, it acts as a deodorizer, leaving the mouth fresh, and free from any fetid odor. There should be no indulgence in sugar, candy, etc. “A sweet tooth” is likely to become a “decayed tooth.”

Tartar is an earthy-like incrustation deposited on the teeth from the saliva. If, from neglect, it has been allowed to collect around the roots of the teeth, it should be carefully scraped off with some sharp instrument. It is best to have a dentist remove it. Some people are so negligent as to allow such a quantity to collect that several teeth become soldered together, and if one of them decays, and it is necessary to extract it, it becomes almost impossible for the dentist to do so without removing all.

A decayed tooth, however painless, which has a sharp edge, or which in breaking off leaves a pointed stump behind it, should be at once filled, as the irritation caused by the tongue rubbing upon it is a frequent origin of cancer. It is well to wash the mouth several times a day with milk or magnesia.—The Housekeeper.