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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 10 (February 1, 1928)

The Care of the Teeth

The Care of the Teeth.

How precious is ivory! It is bought at a great price and carefully treasured—considered to be almost as precious as gold. And yet there are people who take the utmost care of ivory ornaments, and think nothing of the rows of lovely ivories in their own mouth. Good teeth will protect the body from a host of evils; and bad teeth will cause indigestion, and many other ills. Everybody agrees that clean, regular, gleaming teeth are charming; and dirty, diseased, irregular teeth are ugly. Hence girls are easily persuaded to brush and clean their teeth. But they must be taught that the condition of the teeth is largely dependent on the condition of the bowels: those who neglect their bowels will find in time that all the care they bestow on their teeth is of little avail.

We should every day eat tooth-forming foods and teeth-cleansing foods, such as wholemeal bread, fresh fruit, especially apples and nuts; and plenty of vegetables and salads.

The cleansing of the teeth with a brush is also important, but the brush should be used horizontally and vertically, and the back and crown of the teeth should also be cleansed. The teeth should be so cleansed twice a day, preferably after every meal, unless the food itself has been tooth-cleansing. Rinsing the mouth with a suitable wash is also good—closing the lips and jaws, and swishing the wash in and out between the teeth and round the gums. Tooth-brushes should be renewed frequently, and kept clean always.

Every girl should remember that dirty teeth and gums may cause the breath to smell very objectionably, but she should also remember that an evil-smelling breath may come from neglected and over-loaded bowels, and that bowel-poisons get into the blood-stream, and are very apt to linger in the sockets of the jaw, and thus loosen and ultimately destroy the teeth.

Always guard against danger to the teeth. Visit the dentist regularly, and have any decayed teeth filled. Care for your teeth—your own ivories—with at least as much loving care as you bestow on the ivory trinkets and ornaments which, however expensive, are much more readily and easily replaced than the ivories of your mouth.

From “Health and Exercise for Girls” (by Anne M. Robertson, B.A., with Illustrated Supplement of Practical Exercises designed by F. A. Hornibrook).

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