The Canada lancet and practitioner . pportunity, which istheirs, as guardians of the mouths and teeth of the public, to notonly prevent destruction of the teeth by caries, but also to control,in a large degree, many other forms of disease. It is cojifidently anticipated that by the intelligent practice oforal hygiene more will be accomplished to prevent decay of theteeth during the next twenty years than in all the ages that havegone before. Functions of the Teeth, The teeth have, among others, three most distinct functions,viz, mastication of food, assistance in articulation of words, andthat
The Canada lancet and practitioner . pportunity, which istheirs, as guardians of the mouths and teeth of the public, to notonly prevent destruction of the teeth by caries, but also to control,in a large degree, many other forms of disease. It is cojifidently anticipated that by the intelligent practice oforal hygiene more will be accomplished to prevent decay of theteeth during the next twenty years than in all the ages that havegone before. Functions of the Teeth, The teeth have, among others, three most distinct functions,viz, mastication of food, assistance in articulation of words, andthat of giving beauty and expression to the face. ^Mastication.—This is the chief function of the teeth. Thecrushing of the food is not the only end accomplished in mastica-tion, but during the process the glands situated in the mouth arestimulated to secrete large quantities of saliva; these fluids becomeincorporated with the food and perform the first step in the teetli tmd other ti--ues of the mouth are in an unhealthy. -A nonnallv arranired set of teeth. state, their use is avoided, and the soft, pulpy articles of diet arechosen—those which will slip down with little or no .such cases the food is taken into the stomach without the normalquantity of saliva which is required in digestion. The food shouldbe masticated until it is ground to the very finest consistency. 44 DOMINION MEDICAL MOXTIILV To give a little idea of what thorough mastieation means,tciulrr beefsteak should be crushed between the teeth about fiftyor more times before swallowing: roast pork, thirty to forty tinuS;tender chicken, thirty to forty times; bananas, which are usuallybolted, and are very injurious on this account, should be chewedtwenty times at least to give the salivary glands an opportunity tosecrete sut!icient saliva to help in digestion. There is great power in the muscles of the jaws, some men beingable to close their teeth together with a pressure of two hundredan
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectmedicine, bookyear189
