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Show Dental Discovery Two medical missionaries have declared, after a ten-year investigation, investi-gation, that tooth-decay can be prevented by diet, it being necessary neces-sary to have phosphorus and vitamin vita-min D in sufficient quantities. Dr. McCollum of John Hopkins University Uni-versity is reported to have said this about the work of Dr. and Mrs. R. Gordan Agnew, of the West China Union University: . "Their work, he said, eliminates confusion about the diet needed for teeth. Vitamin D comes from sunshine and cod-liver oil, or their substitutes. The phosphorus foods in order of their richness are egg yolks, milk, meats, leafy vegetables, vegeta-bles, and the seeds, grains, roots, and tubers. The saliva, said Dr. McCollum, is probably the means of tooth protection through phosphorus phos-phorus it receives from the blood. "Dr. Agnew said they found their clue in analysis of 3,000 diets of Chinese and Tibetans who have better teeth than Americans They returned to the University of Toronto Tor-onto for scientific investigation, and were able to cause 100 per cent decay in teeth of rats by diet alone. Finally, this year, the feeding of children began. Decay was not only prevented among those with the rich phosphorus vitamin D balance, but decay already al-ready started was stopped. " "The significant fact,' says Dr. McCollum, 'is that the Agnews for the first time, consciously and under un-der scientific control, have succeeded suc-ceeded in producing and preventing prevent-ing dental caries (decay) practically practical-ly at will, and to a degree approaching ap-proaching 100 per cent. Th'ilr work gives further strength to the conclusion that dental caries can be largely, perhaps wholly, prevented pre-vented by correct eating. " "The Agnew work enables us to dispose of certain misconceptions more or less widely held In the past. The popular belief that tooth decay is due to impaction and fermentation of food within fissures fis-sures of the teeth is doubtless true In certain cases. We will probably never be able to do without the toothbrush. " 'One of the oldest, most widely held, and most erroneous popular beliefs has been that tooth-decav Is largely due to eating too much sugar and other sweets. Although sugar itself does not decay, sweet-eating sweet-eating contributes Indirectly, because be-cause sugar satiates the appetite so quickly" that a lack of the more essential food elements usually results. re-sults. The Agnews appear to have c o n c 1 u 8 i vely demonstrated this truth in the experimental researcn they have Just reported.' " |