The Conference on Oral and Dental Hygiene held in Boston recently
brought out, perhaps more than anything else, the relation between, the
physical condition of the teeth and the general health of the body,
and the great necessity for lay intelligence in the matter. Prof.
Irving Fisher of Yale, the opening speaker, dwelt on these points,
and declared that civilized man tries to avoid mastication by the use
of pulverized, liquified and pappified foods; that civilization has
brought about a pressure of time with the result that we eat by the
quick lunch counter and the clock, whereas the animal eats his meal in
peace; that we eat too fast, to the injury of our teeth, as shown by
the fact that those who do masticate food thoroughly have better teeth;
and that experience shows thorough mastication results in better health
and greater efficiency. Prof. Timothy Leary of Tufts College said
that proper mastication does away with an important source of supply
of putrefactive bacteria, and eliminates conditions favoring gastric
cancer.
Dr. Samuel A. Hopkins believes that the solution of many of the
difficulties lies in seeking out the educators and in working through
them and through the various settlements and the workers in public and
charitable institutions. Of particular importance are all those who
work with children. William H. Allen of New York lays to the ignorance
and the indifference and the carelessness of the public a great many of
the difficulties. He believes that
if hospitals ever refuse to give bed treatment for twelve
weeks to a man suffering from jaw trouble when the dentist
could give "ambulant" treatment while the man supports himself
and his family; if physicians ever stop spending time, money,
medicine and hospital space on tubercular patients who reinfect
themselves whenever food, medicine or saliva pass over their
diseased teeth and gums; if dentists are ever generally added
to the attending, visiting and consulting staffs of hospitals;
if education of dentists for profit ever gives way to education
for health and training; if the dental profession is ever
given the rank with other specialties and society given the
corresponding protection, it will be because laymen intervene.
Dr. Horace Fletcher declared that it is definitely known that the flow
of gastric juices is started in the stomach by psychic stimuli. If the
food is taken without enjoyment the juices are not secreted and the
food remains undigested. "Any dispute at the table, an angry word, a
discussion over a bill, or a sharp retort, are sufficient to stop this
digestive process," he said.
Dr. David D. Scannell of the Boston School Committee made the startling
statement that fully seventy-five per cent of Boston school children
have dental disease, which means that there are about 75,000 school
children in Boston needing attention. Dr. Scannell bases his statement
upon investigations made in Brookline, New York, and through the
district nursing associations. Dr. Scannell said that the present
dental work in schools is done with good intention but it is sporadic.
Money should be set aside for examination and treatment of all school
children, conducted through an out-patient dental department on the
same basis as the eye and ear departments of free treatment.
Dr. Walter B. Cannon of the Harvard Medical School showed the dangers
lurking in school drinking cups. His statements were supplemented in
the exhibit provided by the Dental Hygiene Council of Massachusetts
by pictures showing a filthy vagrant using a public drinking cup,
immediately followed by a mother who gave her little girl a drink from
the same cup.
The exhibit is the only one in existence in this country. It was taken
in part from the tuberculosis exhibit, but has been greatly increased
and supplemented by an exhibit from Strasbourg.
In the closing session, President Eliot of Harvard pointed out
the relation between defective physical conditions and defective
government. "The bad physical condition of our people is due largely
to the unhealthy conditions under which the men do their ordinary
work and the women pursue their domestic employments. To improve the
public health we must have better regulations and laws. We cannot
create and improve the public playgrounds which are open air parlors
without honest and efficient city and town government," he said. Dr.
Eliot thinks that the medical profession is the most altruistic of all
occupations, with the possible exception of the ministry.