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 cal-careous 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 crea-tures! 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