OUR BABIES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3217, 13 May 1911, Page 3

OUR BABIES.

REPLY TO “ANXIOUS PARENT,” (Continued.) What to do- for boy eight yearsof age with bad 1 teeth. 1. Stopping.—Get good: dentist to stop all teeth that-can- be- saved.

2. Extraction. — Have all decayed teeth that are too- far ‘gone extracted.

(For details consult last week’s column). 3. Promote as thorough mastication as possible. I can imagine our correspondent saying, as many another troubled/ parent has said when the same advice has been given:

It is all very well to recommend thorough mastication, of food, but wo' asked your advice mainly because- our little boy won’t —and, indeed, can’t — masticate properly. I told you that he lias a poor appetitie, but evenwhen- he has 'the inclination for food the pain of eating would 1 usually prevent his chewing thoroughly, and in any case -lie has got so into the habit of taking soft things and avoiding anything hard or dry that we fail to see how we arc to bring about reform. If our child/ had a good set of sound teeth we could enter on tlid task of reforming his habits- with some heart and -confidence, but our problem is, How are wo to got a child to masticate satisfactorily in the absence of proper masticatory organs—in other words, without serviceable teeth ?

I admit that the problem is not a simple- one; that much' time and patience will have to- be devoted to- making reparation for erors and omissions of the- past, and- that the- final result must fall far -short of what would have followed unerringly on a simple observance of the laws and dictates of Nature throughout the last nine years; butthat- is no reason why the little boy should now be abandoned to his fate without an, effort to save him. Indeed, assuming that the parents have unwittingly failed in their duty towards their offspring, that fact would afford the best of all reasons for doing everything in their power to make up for the shortcomings of the past. Lot us fairly see how the matter stand's.

Be careful “stopping” and extraction actual pain can be lessened, probably abolished, though this beneficent result cannot be counted on as the immediate effect of attention to the teeth. Toothache -has been described by a great German authority as “the prayer of the nerves for health}' blood.” As long as indigestion, poor blood, and- feeble health persist, the child will tend not only to be dull and listless, but also to suffer from all kinds of pains and aches.

HOW TO ENSURE PROPER MASTICATION IN THE ABSENCE OF BACK TEETH.

However, we will assume that by pro per care and: attention wc have 60 far improved the state of the mouth and jaws that the act of mastication is no longer habitually accompanied by toothache, though there may still be attacks of such pain from time to time. ! How are we to induce- thorough mastication in such a case -if all the back grinding teeth are gone and only-the dozen front teeth remain—six in each jaw ? It- is obvious that the front teeth, unaided, cannot sub-divide and 1 crush the food as well as- wlieni helped by good, sound molars ; • but if sufficient time is taken they are capable of doing the work quite efficeitnly with the assistance of the tongue, cheeks, and roof of the mouth. --

RINGING THE DINNER BELL

Moreover, it is quite a mistake to suppose that the function of mastication begins and! ends with reducing food to a pulp. The pulping of food is certainly important, but the act of thorough mastication does much more than that. The proper working of the mouth during eating causes tens of thousands of messages (telegrams) to be sent to the centres in the brain and' spinal cord along thousands of wires (nerves) asking that digestive fluids shall be poured out' into the stomach and' intestine in readiness for the digestion of tlib food which is about to be sent down from above. In “ringing of- the bell,”-tell-ing the whole system, what' .is .expected of it—telling the heart to pump mere vigorously, telling the. lungs to. breathe more deeply, and, above all things, telling the digestive organs to set to work so as te ensure timely and thorough completion...of task immediately ahead 1 of them. Without the transmission of the natural succession of such messages from the mouth during the taking of food—without <i glad, hearty, energetic, and continued ringing of the “dinner bell” througout meal-times there will not be a proper flow of gastric juice or bile—and when I use the words “glad” and “hearty,” I mean them in. their ordinary sense. The child who : takes his meals in sulky unwillingness and pain, even though he should be compelled to chew his food thoroughly,' would not be sending the right kind of- messages to his- digestive centres in the brain- and spinal cord, and consequently these directing and controlling nerve centres would not bring about the secretion of proper digestive, juices either in quantity or quality in response to such grudging, half-hearted appeals reaching them from the .mouth and jaws.

SUPREME IMPORTANCE OF

HEARTILY ENJOYING MEALS.

One thing proved beyond all others by the profound, scientific investigations of the last. .20; years. —especially by the researches of Professor Pawlow, of St. Petersburg—is the fact that enjoyment in eating is a prime necessity for the pouring out. of healthy digestive juices and the proper assimilation of food.

[Published by arrangement with Messrs Cassell and Company, Limited, of London, the proprietors of the copyright.]