The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

March. 1921 The Health Bulletin 25
THE MACHINERY OF THE MOUTH
By ERNEST A. BRANCH
Director Children's Dental Clinic, Wake County Health Dept., Raleigh, N. C.
A train came into the terminal loaded
with human freight and crowds were
there to meet friends and loved ones.
The engineer came down from the cab
of the engine and examined the great
engine or "Iron Horse," looking for the
minutest defect or loose bolt or nut
and making notations on a yellow sheet
of paper from a book he had for that
purpose. Down the train could be seen
"Car Knockers" examining the wheels
and brake shoes and hose connections
of the air brakes. Upon inquiry you
are told that this is a regular procedure,
not only when the train comes in from
a run but again before it goes out. This
is no new sight to any of us—we see
it every day and would not think of
starting on a journey if we thought
this inspection had been overlooked.
In this machine the materials are the
very best and every piece tested for
its fitness. So too, it should be with
the mouths of our children when we
remember that they are likened to a
piece of machinery. We are just now
beginning to stress and realize the importance
of what good teeth of the
temporary set mean to the health and
development of the child.
First, the parts of this machine—the
child's mouth—must be built right of
proper and sound materials and we call
this nutrition. In order that it be built
right, as the engine is. the mother must
know that her health and diet during
pregnancy is responsible for the good
or bad temporary teeth, that they
should be under the care of both their
dentist and physician and consult with
both.
After birth also, good materials must
still be added for the well building of
this machine. The child should be
breast fed when possible and if not,
then cow's milk should be substituted
but fed under the direction of a physician.
Fruits and vegetables are an important
part of every child's diet and
it should be remembered that in cooking
leafy vegetables 95 to 97 per cent
of the mineral content goes into the
liquor the vegetable is cooked in and
should not be thrown away but fed
to the growing child. Whole wheat
bread is also very important and necessary.
Fruit sugars should be substituted
in a great measure for the refined
sugars in preserves, jellies and
candies.
Second, after selecting and building
of good materials, the next step is Occlusion.
This means that the parts of
this machine must fit. Much of this fitting
depends on treatment of teeth as
well as their Natural growth.
It has been said, and perhaps justly
so, that three-fourths of the irregularities
of teeth were caused by the
premature extraction of the temporary
teeth. The temporary tooth should
whenever possible remain in the arch
until the permanent tooth is ready to
replace it. Tonsils, adenoids, thumbsucking,
etc., account for the other
irregularities.
Third, parts of the machine must
be kept clean just as the engineer
cleans his machine and we call that
Mouth Hygiene. The child's teeth
should be cleaned when two are in
place and cleaned regularly. The best
way to have the child do this is to let
him stand befoi'e a mirror and watch
himself "brush." Then, too, the mother
should set a good example and let the
child see her clean her own teeth daily.
If it is necessary to inspect the locomotive
on each trip, and it is, then how
much more important it is that we
have the mouth of our children examined
regularly and the teeth cleaned,
decays arrested and irregularities discovered
and many times corrected, by
just a little attention on the part of the
mother and dentist.
The first tooth of the child is eagerly
looked for but when the stomach and
eye teeth are in the arch many mothers
sing, "It is done," and never see in the
child's mouth again until the child
is crying with an aching tooth. Perhaps
that is a sixth year molar of the