Throat. The throat is strengthened by the daily cold bathing of neck and chest. A child can learn to gargle at three or four years, and is then able to do it easily if soreness develops.
Ears. Wash the ears every day with warm water, making sure that no dirt remains in creases or behind the lobes. If wax accumulates, remove it with the twisted end of the wash cloth or gauze. Never put sharp instruments of any kind in the ear.
The lining of the inner ear is a continuation of the lining of the nose and throat. If the latter becomes infected, as with a cold, directly or from enlarged tonsils or adenoids, the infection is likely to continue into the ears, causing running ears, which may result in deafness.
The ears should not be made sensitive by cotton stuffing or ear muffs. In very cold weather, little children should wear a hood, and older children may do so with temperature below 40° F.
Never pull the ear lobe nor strike a child on the head; it may cause deafness. Teach children that blowing or shouting into the ear may produce deafness.
Teeth. After the first six teeth are cut, during the first year, it is advisable to have a small, soft brush to use with water, plain or with boric acid or bicarbonate of soda, after each feeding. This never should be neglected after eighteen months. Doctor Truby King advises giving the child a raw apple, a third of which has been peeled, and which is partially bruised until softened, following the midday feeding, after one year of age; munching this for ten minutes is a natural and effective method of cleaning the teeth. By four years of age, the child should be able to brush his teeth himself. Salt, bicarbonate of soda, or milk of magnesia are effective dentrifices. Patent pastes, powders, and liquids are expensive and of no more efficacy than the foregoing, their chief value probably consisting in the incentive they give to the use of the brush.
In brushing, the motion should be up and down, and rotary, as well as across the teeth; the inner and upper as well as the outer surfaces and the gums should be brushed. To safeguard against infection, teeth should not be cleaned over the hand basin, but into a receptacle for waste water.
Clean teeth will not decay. If the first teeth are allowed to decay, the second will not be sound. The rudiments of both sets of teeth are formed in the jaw before birth. The first teeth (20) are cut by thirty months; the first permanent teeth are the six-year molars; the second set are cut from six to twelve years of age. The enamel of the teeth is formed once for all during childhood. The substance of the teeth is mineral, chiefly lime. It will therefore be appreciated that the child needs abundance of mineral in order that he may have sound tooth material. This he can get only from mineral in his food (see page [169]), or, before his birth, from his mother’s diet. Good circulation in the jaws is also essential for normal development both for teeth and jaws, therefore the importance of some hard food every day after ten months.
The toothbrush should be selected with care. A good toothbrush is made with separate tufts, and with holes along the back, that it may more easily be kept clean. For children under three years it should be soft, for older children medium. The care of the brush is as important as its use. An unclean toothbrush may be a source of infection. It may be kept antiseptic by being very thoroughly rinsed, preferably under running water, then in borax water, or grain alcohol, and placed across hooks or a glass, bristle face down, to dry, after each using. Once or twice a week it should be thoroughly disinfected by drying in the sun, boiling in borax solution, or soaking in alcohol. It should receive thorough disinfection after each using, in case of influenza, tuberculosis, diphtheria, or other infectious disease.
Dental Examination. After one year of age the child should have a dental examination and tartar removed every six months. Any cavities should be filled, and irregular teeth straightened. A decaying tooth is a breeding place of germs which are carried, with the poisons they produce, to the stomach and thence through the system. Its sensitiveness compels the child to do his chewing entirely on the other side, spoiling the symmetry of the jaws, or to omit proper chewing. It causes pain that lowers the tone of the whole nervous system, produces irritable temper, and interferes with mental work.