Beauty Culture (Woodbury)/Chapter 28

There is no evidence that the soundness or strength or usefulness of the teeth is degenerating. Our teeth are as good as human teeth ever were so far as we definitely know.

We do know now, however, better than was ever understood before, that it pays in several heretofore unsuspected ways to take care of the teeth. The importance of this knowledge is so great that active measures are being taken in most civilized parts of the world to implant it in the minds of the people. Thirty-five towns and cities in Germany now maintain dental hospitals and infirmaries, and German insurance companies find it profitable to care for the teeth of their policyholders, and in many cities of the United States regulations are being adopted for teaching school children how to care for their teeth, and for compelling them to follow such teaching.

Every child in good health who is two and a half years old has twenty healthy teeth; at six years of age ​the first permanent teeth appear, which, if taken good care of, should last as long as the person lives.

The proper toilet of the mouth should begin before the teeth appear. The infant's mouth should be washed out with cool water after each nursing, No rings or other so-called helps should be given the child to cut his teeth on. They are not required, and are frequently a source of infection from the fact that they are dropped on the floor by the child, or mopped on the cat and dog.

As soon as a number of teeth have appeared in the child's mouth, systematically brush them and the gums after each meal with a small soft brush dipped in cool water to which may be added once a day a pinch of table salt or a small quantity of boracic acid.

Now, if he is properly fed, and his mouth protected from external infection, the child will safely pass through the period of teething into that of milk teeth, and through this into the stage of permanent teeth. The complete development of the permanent teeth may be effected by the same means without trouble, toothache, or gumboils.

The permanent teeth being once fairly ushered in in good workmanlike condition, say at fifteen years of age, opinions somewhat differ as to what we then most have to dread. It is, however, generally conceded that a very large share of the ills to which our teeth are liable are due to neglect of definite and preventable causes,

Careful attention to the toilet of the mouth; thorough brushing and cleansing of the teeth at bed time, and after each meal, including the massaging of the gums with the brush; and a diet that includes things that must be chewed, are sure to prevent a majority of the forms of decay of the teeth and ulcerations of the gums.

A word here to show a real source of danger from bad and neglected teeth will be a sufficient warning.

​An individual with a set of partly carious teeth and spongy gums is probably mixing with his food at every stroke of his jaws enough of some varieties of germs to produce several of the most serious diseases of the alimentary canal.

Many a chronic dyspepsia and persistent bowel trouble may be kept up by constant self-infection of the stomach and intestines by the foul septic discharges from decaying teeth and ulcerated gums, and the reason for the development of various bacteria in the mouth is plain when one realizes what a thoroughly supplied breeding ground it is offering to germs in the way of lurking places permeated with heat, moisture, and nutrient material.

During the day many things we do—eating, talking, laughing, all tend to release the saliva and largely aid nature in making the mouth self-cleansing. The one best time then to clean the teeth and mouth is before going to bed at night. While we sleep nature works, and whatever particles of food have been left in the mouth between the teeth or in any crevices are fermented by the heat and acids of the mouth, and set upon by various germs which, finding themselves in such agreeable surroundings, increase and multiply with great rapidity.

The visible or most exposed part of the teeth is not the weakest, though it does practically all of the work.

The point where the teeth begin to decay is just where the edges of the gums touch them, known as the neck of the tooth. The enamel of the grinding surface here ends, and the bony socket of the tooth that extends into the jaws begins. Here then is the weakest spot. Here the lining margin of the gum should be kept healthy and firmly attached to the necks of the teeth.

The Tooth Brush. To accomplish this is one of the ​principal functions of the tooth brush. It is really more important to brush the gums than to brush the teeth, for if the gums are kept clean, strong, and healthy, and all particles of food removed from between the teeth or in any crevices that may be in the teeth, the most important work of the tooth brush has been accomplished.

One point should be kept in mind, that is it is not necessary to assist the teeth in any way. Keeping them clean is all they require.

Tooth brushes must be soft enough not to irritate the gums and the brushes should be changed often and kept thoroughly clean.

The teeth should be brushed in an up and down direction, not across. Then open the mouth and brush the grinding surfaces—and lastly brush the inside of the teeth next to the tongue.

After the brushing the whole mouth should be rinsed out with cool water, to which can be added a little bicarbonate of soda or lime water, or salt, or boric acid.

The slow and thorough chewing of food helps to clean the teeth.

When away from home, it is not always convenient to brush and clean the teeth, but if the habit is once formed of rinsing out the mouth with water every time anything is eaten it will help nature keep the teeth and mouth clean.

The acids of oranges, lemons, apples, and other fruits, while cleansing to the teeth in the process of chewing, should also be rinsed out of the mouth when the eating of the fruit is finished.

These are the chief substances used as aids in cleaning the teeth:

Tooth Powders and Washes. Charcoal and cuttlefish bone powder, detergents both; chalk as a soft pow​der for daily use; pumice as a hard, gritty substance for occasional use when the teeth are unusually discolored; catechu cinchona and rhatany, employed to give astringency to the tooth powder; myrrh, used to impart odor, and bole armenian to add a red color; common salt; cream of tartar; phosphate or bicarbonate of soda, and sulphate of potash and lime, used to overcome acidity.

About the simplest, cheapest, and most agreeable tooth powder—one that can be used practically as often as needed, which is at least twice a day—is made of precipitated chalk and a few drops of peppermint for flavor,

One that requires a little more care in the preparation, but is effective as a cleanser and harmless to use often, is

To this may be added a few drops of oil of peppermint for flavor.

Here is a charcoal powder which is very whitening:

A mouth wash or elixir is valuable with which to get between the teeth as well as in all parts of the mouth. The simplest thing for this purpose is one-half teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda in a half tumbler of water, to be used after the teeth have been brushed with one of the powders.

​A more elaborate elixir is made of:

To correct the unpleasant result of a feverish condition of the mouth:

Sometimes this feverish condition is relieved by the simple washing of the mouth with a strong solution of table salt and warm water, and rinsing out with cold water.

An astringent mouth wash that may be used twice a day for a time for loosening teeth:

If the gums are pale massage them gently two or three times a day with this:

Eating Candy and Sweets. If there is any one thing in which modern young folks excel it is their ability to get candy money from parents who nevertheless know better than to let them have it. As Nature has a way of providing a remedy for every disease, so we will endeavor to find the means of offsetting the harmful acids accumulated in the mouth by the eating of sugar.

​Here is a simple alkaloid wash that will neutralize the acids:

If the mouth is rinsed out with this after eating candy or other sweets, much of the harm they might do the teeth will be prevented; and to rinse the mouth with it after the teeth are brushed at night is an excellent preservative practice.

Tartar. Tartar is made up of lime and other salts from the food; of mucus and cells from the mouth; of microbes. The best method of prevention is the cleansing of the mouth and teeth directly after food has been eaten. Sometimes, besides the daily cleansing, it is necessary to take extra measures to prevent its accumulation, and keep the teeth white and sound,

For this purpose once a month go over the teeth in the following manner: Wind a bit of absorbent cotton around the end of a good-sized tooth pick; dip it into a few drops of lemon juice and then into a small quantity of powdered pumice. Rub the adhering pumice over the edges, sides and tops of the teeth, and at the gums, but not necessarily on them. After going carefully over all the teeth in this way, rinse out the mouth with clear water. Do not immediately brush the teeth, for the gritty pumice might scratch the enamel.

The daily use of bicarbonate of soda—half a teaspoonful in a half glass of water—to rinse out the mouth every night after the brushing will usually prevent the accumulation of tartar.

To Sweeten the Breath. Four per cent. of chloride of lime added to the tooth powder removes the fetid ​character of the breath, and also tends to whiten the teeth—but it is not safe to use on the teeth often.

A grain of permanganate of potash dissolved in an ounce of rosewater makes a good elixir to be used several times a day for two days, but it should be rinsed out thoroughly with clear water each time used. This is not agreeable to the taste but can readily be so made by the addition of a few drops of oil of peppermint.

Bicarbonate of soda is often prescribed by physicians to cure a fetid breath—a half teaspoonful in a half glass of water, taken after meals for two days.

Charcoal tablets blacken the tongue, but are good for both the mouth and the stomach.

For Receding Gums. After brushing and rinsing the teeth at night before going to bed, rub with the finger tips some precipitated chalk on the tops or necks of the teeth, permitting it to remain there overnight.

Breaking the Teeth. The warning not to try to crack nuts and bones or hard substances with the teeth will be better understood if it is explained that human teeth are comparatively square, having a rather flat surface, while those of animals that crack nuts are pointed or wedge-shaped.

An illustration showing how the teeth may be injured by being too suddenly cooled or heated is the quickness with which a glass will break if ice is put in it and then boiling water poured on. So, too, to switch quickly from ice cream to a hot demitasse or vice versa may result in cracking the teeth.