Show Daily Health Service Suffering and Money Saved Sa by Denial Delilah Examinations B DR MORRIS Editor Journal of the American Medical Med Mcd- ical Association and of H the Health Magazine In order to find out how many children chil children dren in this country suffer with do- do teeth officers of the United States public health service arranged for the examination of the mouths of children in four states Mates by a personnel especially trained in dentistry The states included in the examina examination tion were Georgia Illinois Missouri and Maryland Twelve thousand four hundred and thirty five children w were ere examined by the dental officials The children w who ho suffer w with ith decaying decaying decay decay- ing temporary teeth arc nrc mostly in the grout group fion 7 to 8 years yeni's old those who are arc having difficulty because of remaining re rc roots are in m the group around 8 years of age It is found that children chil- chil dien dren 6 years of age have the highest percentage of temporary teeth with cavities So few children had the cavities of their temporary teeth properly attended attended at at- tended to and suitably filled that the number was negligible Whereas the care of the temporary teeth is sely if the teeth are arc to be properly spaced and suitably devel the temporary teeth once lost there still remains the possibility of good care for the permanent teeth Unfortunately how however ev er there were vast numbers of children 14 to 15 years of age whose permanent teeth w were ere nearly destroyed by decay Actually Ac Ac- 90 per cent of all of the tise children of all ages had one or more teeth decayed de- de missing mining or filled It should be borne in mind that the examinations made by the school in inspectors inspectors in- in are arc merely casual examinations examina and not at all to be compared w ith the type of examination that can be made by a private dentist with cill instruments such as mirror minor and explorer to aid in detecting cavities For this reason parents should see seeto seeto to it that every child has its teeth ex cx examined at least once every six months Irons from the age of 2 years onward in order order or or- der to make sure that decay will be detected at the earliest possible moment mo me meat ment and properly controlled by cleaning and filling Money spent in this way during the earl early years of life will represent a avast avast vast saving over the funds that will have to be spent later for artificial dentures that would not otherwise be required |