Nourishing the Tissues of the Teeth.—Dr. Frank Abbott says: For a number of years past I have entertained the views that there was some difficulty existing not due to an insufficiency of lime-salts, which occasions so many faulty and imperfectly formed teeth. With that idea in view I have advised exercise in the open air and other kinds of treatment for some patients which would favorably affect their digestion. That the food ordinarily taken contains sufficient lime-salts to form and to sustain the teeth I have no doubt (except in cases of extreme anemia, during gestation and lactation). I believe the fault is beyond that. There is a lack of proper nourishment of the tissues, due to imperfect digestion, which depends again on the proper "nerve tone." I believe this to be the real cause of the difficulty. It is reasonable to suppose that any tonic, whether taken in the form of exercise in the open air, or in any other form, which affects favorably other portions of the body, will affect the teeth favorably as well. When we have ascertained the functions of the great nerve-centers, and those functions are assured, then we will probably have more perfectly formed teeth.—Items of Interest.
[A] See Gradle on "Bacteria and the Germ Theory of Disease," pp. 39 and 151.