Occasional papers on the prevention of some common diseases in childhood / by J. Sim Wallace.

  • Wallace, J. Sim (James Sim), 1869-1951
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Occasional papers on the prevention of some common diseases in childhood / by J. Sim Wallace. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Gerstein Science Information Centre at the University of Toronto, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Gerstein Science Information Centre, University of Toronto.

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    to refer briefly to certain points in oral hygiene, for in this jou wil] see, in part at least, the justification upon which our criticism of the dietaries of children rests. And how- ever simple it may be to arrange the dietaries in such a wav as to secure physiological cleanliness of the mouth, it is highly desirable to recognize the main features of the normal and natural processes by which physiological cleanliness is maintained, however complex these processes may be. For convenience in description we may consider the processes under different headings, although they are more or less intimately associated and dependent upon each other. Firstly, we have the mechanical process. This depends, to a great extent, on the physical consistency of the food. When the food is of a firm and somewhat fibrillar con- sistency, it stimulates the pleasurable activity of efficient mastication. The teeth and gums are rubbed and scoured, particles of food are dislodged from the teeth, expressed from the bolus of food, sucked or pressed back towards ihe pharynx, and swallowed. In other words, food of such a consistency has a detergent effect. Highly refined •or short and soft food has, on the contrary, a different .effect when taken into the mouth ; it is simply crushed or squashed into the crevices of the teeth, and if it is at all •of a sticky nature it remains impacted there. Bread and jam and cake may be taken as examples of such foods which tend to lodge about the teeth. Secondly, we have the chernko-physiological process. Food, when taken into the mouth, stimulates a flow of .-saliva, and carbohydrate food, especially if slightly acid
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