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134
(d) Own Teeth for Life
What are our chances of attaining this happy state? The
simple answer is excellent provided we take advantage of and
put into practice the tenets of sound preventive dentistry. That
such knowledge is of paramount importance is confirmed by
the existence at London University of a Chair and Professorship
of Preventive Dentistry, the full impact of which has yet
to be felt.
Far from being the novelty with which the public appear to
regard preventive dentistry, its origins are considerably older. It
is odd but, in common with other fields of science and technology,
published papers of seemingly scant significance at the time have
become the foundations of later major developments. Indeed, if
only Miller's postulations in 1890 on tooth decay and Gottlieb's
1921 concept of "Dirt Pyorrhoea" together with observations made
at the early part of this century on the effects of fluoride had really
been taken to heart we would have had for many years now,
without additional discoveries, a preventive dentistry programme
worthy of promotion.
As with all prevention, in a discussion on the feasibility of
"teeth for life" we need to understand the cause and remove it.
Dental health concerns two basic problems, those of tooth decay
and the care of the gums.
Tooth decay (dental caries), a scientifically understood and
avoidable disease, is caused by the action of germs, present in all
mouths, on solid and liquid residues resulting in chemical products
which attack teeth.
Gums perform a most important function in that they cover and
sustain the bone structures which contain the teeth and their inflammation
(gingivitis) produces a failure of these bony structures
giving rise to less support for the teeth which, in turn, leads to
their loosening and eventual loss. Often commencing before or
during adolescence, such a process may extend over a number of
years. It is usually initiated by the stagnation around teeth of food
residues (plaque) into which is precipitated a substance derived
from salivary salts resulting in the production of a hard substance
(tartar) which adheres very firmly to the teeth. Not rigidly fixed
but supported in their sockets by ligaments, teeth undergo a slight
movement on the action of chewing. It is the combination of this
movement and the abrasive action of the tartar which gives rise
to inflammation of the gums and the accompanying results outlined
above.
An Annual Report is hardly the appropriate vehicle for the
dissemination of dental health education but entry this year into