A FEW UNRECOGNIZED CAUSES OF BAD TEETH.
DENTAL decay among the youth, according to statistics gathered in many European cities, is still on the increase. In Germany, out of the many thousands of children between the ages of eight and thirteen examined, only two per cent. had perfectly sound teeth. Forty per cent. of all the teeth examined were bad. Qualified dentists have been appointed to extract or fill the teeth as may be necessary. The following extract gives some idea of what has been done in this direction during the year. "In the Darmstadt schools 1,376 children were examined, and 1,561 teeth were filled, while 1,871 were extracted. In Strassburg 2,666 children were examined, 699 teeth were filled, and 2,912 were extracted." One of the commonest causes of bad teeth is that of taking very hot food. Hot food and very hot tea or coffee causes the enamel on the teeth to expand, and breathing cold air afterward causes it to contract. When the enamel cracks, as it soon does, the inner part of the tooth soon crumbles away. Acids formed by the decomposition of food within the mouth, or acid regurgitation due to fermentation of food in the stomach, are always waging war upon the teeth by breaking down their enamel. To guard against this evil, care should be taken in the selection and combination of food, and thoroughly to cleanse the mouth at least night and morning, even if it be not possible to do so after every meal. More dangerous than naturally-formed acids is the more powerful acid of vinegar. Place an egg in a cup of diluted vinegar, and in a few hours the shell will be entirely dissolved. Vinegar exerts a similar influence on the teeth. Yet foolish girls, to make themselves pale, often drink vinegar; the teeth pay the penalty. If one desired to ruin his teeth, he could not choose a surer way of doing it, and it is a well-known fact that the dentist's most profitable patients are those who indulge in the use of vinegar in their food. If such a state of things existed among the choice colts of Australia, a diligent search would be instituted and vigorously prosecuted till the offending causes were discovered and removed. It is recognised that a toothless horse is a worthless creature. We give less thought to the rising generation than we do to our colts, and yet the future of our country depends on the boys and girls that fill the schools of to-day.—Australasian Good Health.