TEETHING TROUBLES
SIR,—May I attempt, in my 'excitable way,' once more to further the cause of dental health education, in the almost hopeless case of Monica Furlong?
Is it Professor Slack and I who are inspired by a 'high moral purpose,' or this illogical lady who would be impressed by the need for scrupulous oral hygiene only if cleanliness is 'really next to godli- ness?'
Teeth, I agree, 'are really not worth so much pas- sion' if we adopt Monica Furlong's strange reasoning, which compares the seriousness of dental disease with that of road accidents and sexual crimes against children; though thoroughly caring for teeth is worth while.
Monica Furlong's canvass 'among all the young mothers' she knows is interesting—at least to her— but it hardly provides the kind of conclusions acceptable to more experienced investigators whose evidence, anyhow, does not support hers. However, we must be encouraged to learn that one parent has nothing personally against the 'pretty enough'
'notion' of cleanliness (this, indeed, is progress). One day, perhaps, she will become as obsessed by it— even in relation to teeth—as she appears to be by godliness and psychology; an uneasy combination of standards, to be surd—Yours faithfully,
EDWARD SAMSON Aldington, 7 Poole Road, Bournemouth
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