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bread (and butter), should form a considerable part of the solid part of
the meals habitually given to children of this age. As the infant
passes from the milk diet to the more solid diet the milk should be
more and more diluted with water. During this period also the solid
food should be eaten first and the milk and water taken after.
(2.) After the age of two and a-half years children should always
have a considerable amount of the farinaceous food in a form
which will stimulate a pleasurable amount of efficient mastication.
The albuminous part of their diet should also be presented in a form
which will encourage mastication, e.g., boiled fish, meat, and later
bacon. Milk or milk substitutes should only be allowed in small amounts.
(3.) The meals should be arranged in such a way that if soft,
starchy, or sugary food has been eaten, the mouth and teeth will be
cleansed by food of a detergent nature taken immediately after. Thus,
therefore, when sweets of any kind, e.g., milk puddings, jam rolls,
cake, sweet biscuits, bread and marmalade or jam are eaten, fresh
fruit should be eaten afterwards.
(4.) Three meals daily are to be preferred to any greater number,
as the longer the interval the more hygienic is the state of the mouth
and stomach, and therefore the more perfectly adapted for the reception
of a further meal. Sweets, chocolate, or biscuit and milk should
never be eaten between meals or before going to bed.
When these rules for the prevention of decay in teeth cannot be
observed, some attempt should be made with a small toothbrush, to
clean the crevices of and between the teeth, after every unhygienic
meal, but as this is extremely difficult to do effectually without injuring
the teeth or gums, it is advisable to have children, who are brought up
in this way, taken regularly to the dentist from the age of three
onwards every six months, till the teeth become crowded and irregular;
thereafter the visits may require at times to be more frequent until all
the natural teeth have been replaced by artificial substitutes.
FOODSTUFFS WHICH ARE
NOT CLEANSING AND LIABLE TO INDUCE DENTAL CARIES.
Farinaceous and sugary food in general without fibrous element.
Examples: Sweet biscuits and cake; bread and marmalade; breadand
jam ; new bread without crust: bread soaked in milk ; milk puddings ;
porridge and milk ; preserved fruit; chocolate and sweets of all kinds ;
honey.
Liquids : Cocoa and Chocolate.
The above foods should not be eaten except when followed by
foods of the cleansing kind.