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133
The Committee found that it was not poverty or the
physical deterioration accompanying poverty or town life
which in itself caused decay of teeth, and that the poorer
children had better teeth than those of the well-to-do working
people. Worse teeth were found in better class schools, no
doubt because the poorer children ate coarser foods.
An Admiralty and War Office Inter-Departmental Conference
on the subject found that:—
"Mai-nutrition plays but a very small part in the production
of dental caries, as compared with the more;
common use of articles of food which readily undergo acid
fermentation, and that it is neglect to keep the mouth1
clean that is chiefly responsible for the decay of the
teeth."
The Committee recommended as remedies for this state of
things the teaching of hygiene and the care of the teeth in
schools, daily cleansing of the teeth, and systematic examination
and treatment of children's teeth by dentists employed
by School Authorities.
The Committee also expressed the belief that by instructing
mothers, through the medium of Health Visitors, as to the
proper food for infants, much might be done towards removing
dental caries and the evil results to the general
health which it produced.
The recommendations of the Committee as regards teaching
cleanliness and examination of teeth have been taken much
to heart by thie nation. The reports of School Medical Officers
every year call attention to the large number of defective;
teeth found, and some effort has been made to provide treatment
for decayed teeth, but the great cost of this seriously