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13
From the foregoing table it will be noted that 626 out of
973 children, or 64 4 per cent, of the children examined, were
found to be suffering from decayed teeth. As illustrating the
extent to which diseased teeth conditions receive attention, it is
to be noted that only 20 children out of the total of 973 had
had any teeth extracted or filled. Dental treatment is certainly
required in a large number of these cases, but looking to the
future, the important point with regard to the subject of the
decay of the teeth is Prevention. Dr. Sim Wallace has given this
matter his especial study and his views are embodied in certain
simple rules which have been drawn up by the County Medical
Officer for Salop, and which I can best emphasize by quoting
as follows:—
1. Nearly all the starchy food that is given to children
in the first three or four years of life should be in a hard
or firm form, compelling mastication, e.g., crusty bread, twicebaked
bread, crisp toast and hard whole-meal biscuits. In
this way good and well arranged teeth, without irregularities,
are likely to be developed, and good habits of mastication to
be formed.
2. Mouth breathing in children should always be corrected.
3. Throughout life much of the starchy food should be
in a hard form, compelling mastication. Food should rarely
be taken in a liquid form, or soaked in liquid or minced.
Bread should not be eaten new, and it should have plenty
of good firm crust.
4. Sweets should never be taken between meals, nor
the last food in a meal; but only along with food requiring
mastication.
5. A meal should always be finished with a cleansing
food. It is very desirable that fresh fruit should be eaten
freely, particularly at the end of a meal.
Examples of cleansing and non-cleansing foodstuffs are as
follows:—