OCR Text |
Show Health and Beauty By j . - DR. SOPHIA BRTJNSON THE BUILDING OF SOUND TEETH j There was a recent article which stated that caries (decay) of teeth can not only be prevented by diet, but that holes that are beginning to form will often be filled in by tooth substance, when the patient is put upon the proper diet. Dr. Thomas, of the Harvard Dental Den-tal school, in his book, "Teeth, Diet, and Health," gives cogent reasons why natural food has so much influence upon the formation forma-tion and preservation of the teeth. Europeans from the rural districts dis-tricts as a rule possess strong, sound teeth. They liye principally on black bread, with abundance of fruits and vegetables. They grind their grains at home or on some neighboring mill. They have no means of separating the constituents constitu-ents of the grains. Consequently they eat little or no refined white flour bread. Dr. Thomas states that "ravages of dental disease increase in direct proportion to the advance of civilization. civili-zation. Modern diet lacks vitamins and calcium (lime) salts. Important Impor-tant constituents of our food are destroyed by refining and overcooking. over-cooking. Yet the elements that are removed in this way are positively essential, not only to sound teeth, but to good health. Pyorrhea has become a scourge among American people. It can be produced artificially in animals by j ! feeding them on deficiency foods. ' In experiments upon guinea pigs, j all the symptoms of pyorrhea (which is supposed to be a mild i form of scurvy) ensued, with the : attendant leeding, pus laden gums, j and loosened teeth, when the ani-; mals were fed upon improper diets. McCollum wrote, that "by dividing divid-ing a large number of closely related re-lated rats and feeding them from I very early life on diets of differ-I differ-I ent qualities, some can be made to form perfect teeth which remain I healthy until the animals are old, whereas others fed less satisfactory satisfac-tory diets have teeth which have poor texture and decay early. In these experiments no other influence influ-ence than diet operates. Phosphorus and calcium are essential es-sential to the growth and health of the bones and teeth. When foods are eaten with an insufficient amount of these elements the bones and teeth suffer. Whole milk contains con-tains large amounts of calcium and phosphorus. Probably milk is the best tooth-building material that we have. Sherman says that children child-ren assimilate the elements of milk better than vegetables. He goes on to say that they should be fed abundantly on vegetables ajid milk. It is very essential in tooth-building tooth-building to eat hard, coarse food that requires thorough chewing in order to exercise the teeth and surrounding sur-rounding tissues. This improves the circulation and brings the blood to nourish the parts. Soft, mushy diets composed of refined foods promote tooth decay. Uncooked foods such as celery, carrots, cabbage, cab-bage, tomatoes, and fruits help to cleanse the mouth as well as the blood. Diseased gums and teeth indicate poor health, and too little I natural vitamin filled foods. |