a vaiuaDie series ot mouth health
articles, which have incidentally
paid high tribute to the co-opera
tive efforts of the State Boat’d of
Health and the Dentists of the
State, have been published in quite
a number of the papers the past
two months. It was oiir misfortune
not to have space for- the articles
as they were released, though we
have published two or three. How
ever, as we find at hattd copies of
those that we have not published,
we are giving excerpts from them
and pictures of a' few of the
authors. The work which has
been so heartily commended
is carried on principally in
the schools, under the direction of
Dr. Ernest Branch. The authors
are prominent dentists, health offi
cials, and certain other officials.
The list included Secretary Mar
tin of the School Commission, Dr.
P. P. McCain, Dr. Carl Reynolds,
Dr. L. M. Edwards, Auditor J. H.
Coward of Pitt county, Dr. Paul
Jones, Dr. J. N. Johnson, Dr. R. M.
■ uie, Dr. J. Martin Fleming, Mrs.
Ruth Heilig McQuage, Principal of
the John S. Henderson School, Sa
lisbury, and Mrs. J. Buren Sidbury,
of the North Carolina Congress of
.Parents and Teachers.
Practically all these prominent
citizens, from a wealth of knowl
edge , seek to impress the import
ance of “mouth health” for the
school child, which means for the
coining citizenry of the state.
bn.. Mur-'- 'iTjTfw^HT'rinml
DR. L. M. EDWARDS
State Dental Society Has
Co-Operated
As to the origin and purpose of
the Department’s work among the
school children, Dr. L. M Edwards,
retiring president of the State Den
tal kSociety, says:
“As one interested in the need
and value of dental health educa
tion in this State, it gives me pleas
ure to say that the North Carolina
Dental Society has given its appro
val and support to the North Caro
lina .State Board of Health in its
mouth health education work in
the schools of North Carolina since
the inception of the activity under
the direction of Dr. G. M. Cooper, a
physician connected with the State
Board of Health, who directed the
program in the schools for a period
of about eight years. Dr. Cooper
laid a firm foundation for this
work and it has not been necessary
to change the structure of the pro
gram during these years.
“The purpose of the program is
one of mouth health educat’on and
this is w'hat the State Board of
Health has been doing. It has sti
mulated an interest in dentistry on
the part of the laity that could not
have been done otherwise. A nat
ural sequence to this demonstration
is that more people are having nec
essary dental work done than they
have heretofore. The good derived
from this educational program is
that the the public health is improv
ed, but greater still is the jpeven
tive side of the work. Thousands
and thousands of children are be
ihg taught to eat proper foods, to
keep their mouths clean, and to
visit their dentist for inspection ra
ther than Jor correction."
A Splendid Piece of Public
Health Work
Dr. J. X. Johnson, of Goldsboro,
by the way a brother of Duplin’s
eloquent legislator, Senator Rivers
Johnson, writes:
^“The State Board of Health of
ISiorth Carolina is doing a splendid
piece of public health work and the
DR. J. N. JOHNSON
Division of Oral Hygiene is carry
ing on an unusual mouth health ed
ucation program. It can be truth
fully said that this program is mak
ing thousands upon thousands of
our people ‘tooth conscious’ and
‘health minded.’ Numbers of these
people are learning more about the
relation of an unclean mouth to sys
temic disease than they have ever
known before. Mouth health is be
ing taught in the public schools, the
colleges, the Parent-Teacher Asso
ciations, and civic clubs. With this
newer knowledge the public is de
manding an adequate service—ade
quate not only in supply but an in
tellectual service as well.”
The Importance of Mouth
Health
Secretary Martin, backed by sta
tistics, attributes much of the ne
cessity for pupils’ repeating courses
at great expense to the State and
to their own loss of time and prog
ress to poor physical conditioh, the
majority of cases being due to un
dernourishment—not all by &ny
means due to lack, but to the choice,
of food. Undernourishment results
in bad'teeth and bad teeth of the
child Undermines the health of the
adult.
.j. II. COWARD
How The Campaign Profit*
The People
Hardly a more emphatic approval
of the work of the Health Depart
ment could be given than that ol
Auditor Coward, of Pitt. county,
who writes: .
“I believe the service ^definitely
improving the health conditions by
removing diseased teeth, rehev.ng
infections, saving tlie permanent
teeth of those children whose par
ents are unable to pay for dental
services; teaching the value of pro
per foods grown at home; the value
of milk, and the yalue of cleanliness
inside and out. Repeaters in school
are being reduced,; thereby saving
the taxpayers many dollars/’
The Importance of the Child’s
Teeth
Dr. R. M. Buie, Guilford County
Health Officer and the only phy
sician among thd group of writers,
gives the following authoritative
statement as to the importance of
— „
DR. R. M. BUIEJ
the care of the child’s 'teeth:
“Many parents do not realize the
importance of the child’s teeth. Yet
by the time the child has started to
school he has, or soon will have* his
six-year molars, which,ate the most
important teeth in hi§ riiouth. It
is. a sad fact, bu>they. - are also
the most neglecfe.d. Yfe readily see
that it is imperative to prevent thdir
loss. Because the child’s temporary
or baby teeth will be lost many pa
rents thing it is not necessary to
give them the attention they should.
The child’s baby teeth are as sus
ceptible to disease as the permkn
ent teeth. They not only cause the
child much pain if they are allowed
to decay, but also may cause serious
damage to his general health if they
abscess. It is important that these
sourcess of infection be removed
if the child is to have good health
and do his best work in school.”
It Means* More Than the
Health of One Generation
Dr. J. Martin Fleming, after con
trasting conditions with respect to
the care of children’s teeth in Wake
county now and when he was a
child and attributing the betterment
to the work of the Dental Division
of the State Department of Health,
makes the following significant
DR. J. MARTIN FLEMING
statements:
“Probably in no line of health
work-'has so much progress been
made, nor with such far-seeing re
sults, aa in mouth health teaching
in Wake county. And the beauty of
it is we are just beginning a realiza
tion of its ultimate results.. It is
something yoU cannot measure with
ordinary comparisons. •
. “The health of future „ genera
tions is bettered by .the heattli bf
this generation, :and the hekt by the
next, in an evef-iHicreasing' ratldlof
improvement; ft is, difficult to tell
what another .fifty y&fs of rilddth
health pfogrtss \vilf. do^ foi* this
county. We have rib reason to thihk
there Will be ~driy step backward,
while an equal pice forward wotjld
carry us a long way tqWards the
approach of'd preventive rather
than a curative, practice of dentis
try.”
The St&teyMHo PHyiicilhs
AikLifeittitts J ’
After commenting upon the inn
tial difficulty in convincing the
State that children’s health should
come before .that of horses, cows
and pigs, arid of the success of the
effort, Dr. Patii Jones says: ^ f:
. “I have Wondered if our intelli
gent citizens,,as well as our Sthte
government, fully realize the dfebt
oWing the tW6. professions of niedl
cinc- arid dentistry in their sustain;
"ed efforts through all these years
to make our people health conscious
as well as healthy.- . -
“It is with much pride that I
mention the present fulfillment of
these aspirations in the operation
of our mouth health program.
Through the Dental Division of the
State Board of Health Dr. Branch
and his'StSff*of identists have done
a noble and glorious piece of work
solely in the interest of the health
of our peoplevTlley have emphasiz-'
ed the need of'ihouth care among
our school children, and they have:
carried the story of healthy teeth
in healthy mouths in a telling and
most effective "way, so much so that,
we jn private practice Can note the
improvement, lhNlhe mouths ofvour
school boy and gl|d patients.’’
How ifejA Tekh Produce -
j Many hi#
Fronr Dr.. MeCaiti5s article we
quote: L ■ - :
“For many years it has been
known that germs grow and multi
ply in the pockets of decayed teeth,
and that oftentimes both the germs
and the poison from the germs and
the decayed food pass into the blood
stream through the porous roots of
such' teeth and are, carried to all
parts of the body. Also at times ab
besses form at the roots of dead
teeth which have been filled. Rheu
matism, neuritis, lumbago, sciatica,
disease of the eye and of the heart,
et cetera, are at times caused by
germs and poison which get into the
hodv ill this way.
“It is by no means true, however,
that -all such diseases are caused by
bad teeth and diseased gums. In
some quarters teeth have been too
ruthlessly extracted When some oi
the above mentioned diseases are'
present all of the possible sources of
the trouble should be searched for
and the teeth should not be remov
ed unless it is at least reasonably ;
certain that they are responsible fer
tile trouble.”
A School Principal Testifies
Sere we quote a few words
from the experience of Mrs.
Ouage, principal of the John o.,
Henderson School, Salisbury, one
who has had. the .benefit of much
observation of the benefits of, the
campaigns for “mouth health. Says,
Mrs. McQuage: _ \ .
“Since a child must' be healthty
to learn, we have found from «*,
perience that the oral hygiene pro
grams conduetedby the State Board
of Health have been of decided as
sistance in solving the problem, o^
the development of the child m our
schools. Dental, work in the schools,
as supplied by the' State Board of
Health, in cooperation with local
county and city authorities, has ear
abledmany a child to remove a phy
sical handicap thai'otKerWiSe' would
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