The Dental Danger Addressing the British Dental Association last Monday
Sir George Newman described decay of the teeth as " one of the great diseases of modern times." As former chief medical officer of the Ministry of Health and Board of Education, he spoke authoritatively of the incompleteness of care under National Health Insurance and in schools : in 1934, he said, no fewer than 1,500,000 school-children escaped inspection by the dentist, and of those found to require treatment only 63 per cent. received it. Sir George's recommendations include sounder feeding, daily cleaning, better supervision, and wider education. The first of these derives additional emphasis from the final report just published by the Medical Research Council's Committee for the Investi- gation of Dental Disease. The Committee begin by remarking that the scourge seems as prevalent as it has ever been, though " there are more dental clinics, many more people brush their teeth, and much more dental treatment is practised today than ever in the world before." They end by proving statistically that a sufficiency of vitamin D (provided in cod-liver oil) will do much to prevent decay, especially if given while the teeth are still developing. The dental profession as a whole, with its mind concentrated on cleanliness and repairs, has been slow to appreciate the importance of erroneous feeding ; but henceforward it will be hard for anyone to deny that preventable dietetic deficiencies are at least partly responsible for. this almost universal disease,
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