View report page

75
Dental Treatment in Maternity. Mr. G. F. Ferris,
L.D.S., R.C.S. (Eng.), reports as follows:- Maternal love and the
instinct to do the best for the child are proverbial, yet many
children are handicapped at the outset by the ignorance of the
mother, upon whom rests not only the responsibility as to the care
of her baby, but also its actual physique when born.
From the earliest months of pregnancy it is necessary that the
mother should receive foodstuffs calculated to aid the calcification
of both bones and teeth, for the formation of the teeth actually
commences at the forty-second day of intra-uterine life. Presuming
that the correct diet is available its beneficial properties will be lost
if the mouth of the mother is unhealthy. The mouth is the commencement
of the alimentary tract, and, as mentioned in my
remarks dealing with Tuberculosis, any pus exuding from the gums
must mix with the food and pass into the stomach, resulting in a
grave lowering of the health and resisting power of the patient.
At six to seven months after birth the first deciduous tooth
erupts, and on no account should the mother resort to the lazy
and highly dangerous use of the teething powder. Thumb-sucking
and "dummy-sucking" are also harmful, but the child may be
given a chicken-bone or hard crust of suitable size to gnaw and thus
exercise the jaws. This brings more blood to the growing bone
and with it the necessary calcific salts for the formation of the jawbone
which should now be growing rapidly. With deficient growth
of either mandible or maxilla, undue crowding of the teeth must
result, thereby acting as a predisposing cause of Pyrrhœa in later
life.
As soon as possible the child should be made to clean his own
teeth, thus eliminating the most common cause of decay. Should
dental caries be present, conservative treatment should be adopted,
for if the deciduous teeth are well-preserved, the permanent teeth
which follow must be well-placed in the jaw. Mothers must be
warned, therefore, against the injudicious extraction of the temporary
teeth before they have completed this work of aiding and
adjusting the growth of the permanent teeth.
Each individual must have his own tooth-brush. The deplorable
practice of "the family tooth-brush" is all too frequent and is
often followed by grave results, e.g., a patient referred for dental
treatment was pregnant and her general condition was most unhealthy.
One child of the family was receiving treatment at the
Tuberculosis Dispensary, and her husband was suffering from chest
trouble, yet all were using the one tooth-brush with no attempt
at sterilisation. It would be most helpful indeed if this type of