Look After Your Child's Teeth

Our talk in this article is of the care of the child's teeth — from his formation, until the milk teeth appear, and until the permanent teeth succeed them. And once we know that the beauty and soundness of the latter depend on attention to the former, we grasp the foundation on which we build and from which we reap the good and the desired result. It is therefore your duty, Madam, to know certain general rules and to practice them without neglect. For that dear child — small today, grown tomorrow — is a trust in the keeping of his parents, and above all of the mother. His fate is in your hands, and his whole future depends on you. Picture, then, a boy thin of body and weak of build, complaining of a pain whose source he does not know and whose causes he does not grasp: when he suffers, he weeps and sheds tears of pain to proclaim what has befallen him. And if his teeth are ravaged by various agents — and they are many, as we shall presently show — the chief workman of the digestive machine is put out of action, while he does not know what to blame for his wasting and his pains. Watch over your child, then, while he is yet in your womb: nourish him with vitamins of every kind, and with foods containing the calcareous substances, such as milk and eggs and the like; in this lies a double benefit, for the unborn child first and for you second, so that you may make up for what you give of your own bones. And you would do well to take daily a little of the calcium preparations, by mouth or by injection under the skin, according to what your own physician deems suitable. Keep on in this same way after your heart's darling comes forth into the world of being, while you suckle him at your breast, for the very purpose mentioned above. And here I must call your attention to an important matter that must not be neglected: the care of your own teeth during pregnancy and while nursing. The old saying has it that every child costs a tooth — and I say teeth, if they are neglected. Then there is another warning to be heeded: how often have I heard some say that a pregnant woman must avoid visiting the dental clinic for treatment. The truth is the very opposite of that:

The pregnant woman's teeth must be in very good condition indeed, lest they be destroyed past recall in proportion to the calcareous matter they give up during the formation of the unborn child and throughout his nursing. The advisable thing here is for the lady to see to the repair of her teeth before pregnancy; failing that, they must be repaired during pregnancy, so that they will not be exposed to loosening and loss. The physician of the body, when a pregnant woman comes to him, ought to send her to the dental clinic, for the work of the two goes hand in hand, the one completing the other — that is, if we seek a healthy nation. The dentist's work is to preserve the jaw by good treatment, so as to be rid of any infection. For just as the eye is a gauge of health that tells you the truth of one's condition, so the mouth is the index of health and well-being.

The teething period:

Here is the children's trouble, the parents' worry, and the mother's unending torment; here is the pitfall of those pure angels. While the child is chirruping like a bird upon its boughs, his features suddenly change, his eyes grow dull, and his temperature climbs to a high degree, bringing on what we call "the wall-shake": his eyes sink, and he wilts in the arms of his anguished mother. What has happened? What are the causes of all this? Are the teeth responsible for what occurred, or are there other agents that can be forestalled and whose evil warded off? Many questions such as these will be answered, with all their causes, if you follow me, Madam, with a little attention. The digestive apparatus of the small child is, during teething, in a sensitive nervous state beyond description; and if some microbe or other enters this agitated apparatus, it finds fertile ground and delicious pasture. These little creatures multiply into millions in a brief moment, since within this apparatus lie the conditions ready to increase them: moisture, warmth, and food. How many a toy do we give our child that is full of those deadly parasites, and how many things does the boy seize and put straight into his mouth that are a nest for those little creatures! Here, then, are the mother's duties: complete attention and strict watchfulness, so as to escape what comes to no good end.

It thus becomes clear to us that the teeth come in second place, and that the first responsibility falls upon everything that enters the mouth. And so it will occur to the honored readers that scrupulous care over what enters the child's mouth protects him from contagious diseases. I grant this — but is it possible to disinfect everything the child puts to his mouth? A question we leave the mothers to answer. What has been established for us by the world health statistics, however, is that in the countries which have proceeded upon these rules, sanctioned by medicine and science together, the death rate among their children has fallen; and conversely, in the countries which neglected the care of their children, the death rate among the children has struck a high figure.

The milk teeth:

These are completed in the second year and remain in the child's mouth until the eleventh. Some of them are replaced in the seventh year — the front teeth — and the remainder change at about the eleventh year. This is, as we see, no period to be trifled with: nine years of the life of a growing child, who needs food as he needs air. If he loses some of his grinders, what becomes of the digestive machine once the work of chewing is put out of order? As is known to far and near, digestion begins in the mouth; and a grown person feels this injury and remedies his case by means of the dentist, to stop a gap among his molars. But that pure angel does not know what he frets at or what he complains of, so he keeps his pains to himself and bears his wrong in patience, growing thin and wasted while the mother knows nothing of the evil outcome. Parents must therefore attend to their children's teeth and tend them so as to prevent their loss: first, that they may fulfill the function for which they were made; and second, that they may serve as guides for the permanent teeth that come after them, so that these may be set like pearls — ranged in firm order upon their bases, unmarred by any blemish, their beauty untroubled by an unsightly crookedness that lessens their dignity and their luster, as we shall show in a moment.

Beauty and the teeth:

The teeth, then, have two functions: the first is to chew the food and prepare it before sending it on to the digestive machine; the other is of no small importance, for it is what tints the face with bewitching beauty. How many a girl has God endowed with beauty of face, and her beauty has been disfigured by protruding teeth out of their place! Shall we lay the blame for this upon that Power which wrought marvels in the beauty of her face and then spoiled it in the placing of her teeth? By no means: the blame for this falls on the neglect of her teeth and of attending to them, whether on the part of the family or on our own part, we dentists — for the care of children's teeth is wearying work to us. And that is why we see that America has provided against such a shortcoming: some there have founded clinics especially for the treatment of children, and these specialists follow friendly methods to draw the child to them, treating him after they have won his confidence, so as to carry the treatment through in the most perfect fashion.

How often have I heard the common folk say: pull out these teeth, and others better than they will grow in their stead. Yes, this is true — but when? After the jaw has changed and shrunk in size, so that the permanent teeth come in out of their place, disfiguring the beauty of the face and spoiling the looks of their owners.

Here it behooves us to note an important matter, which I have wished to point out at the close of this talk in view of its importance. There grows in the child's mouth, at six years of age, a molar which is for that reason called the "Six years' old molar." It accompanies the temporary molars for five years and does not change when they change; it is the pillar of the jaw and one of the permanent teeth. It must therefore be guarded with the utmost strictness, lest it fall prey to decay and so come at last to the loss of this precious pillar — for with its collapse the permanent array collapses. In saying this I do not exaggerate; there is no room now to recount the harm that would follow, so we content ourselves with this much of notice and warning.

And before this word is done, look toward the happy future — when you fulfill the hope of this rising nation and make the Lebanese home a model for the finest homes, presenting a young generation sound of body and, in consequence, sound of mind; for the one is but the fruit of the other — they are twins that walk together.

And if the man falls short of sharing your task and helping you in this field, the greater responsibility on this side rests upon your shoulder. Upon you we lay all its burdens, and at your hands we reap all its blessings. So march on, Madam, with the sons of the rising generation — forward, with the eye of God watching over you.