isastrous consequences
are sure to follow sooner or later where these most important structures
are neglected.

While it is true that in a person of vigorous health one or two decayed
teeth do not, as a rule, occasion obvious trouble at once, ill effects
are sure sooner or later to be felt. For one thing, a person without good
teeth cannot chew his food well. Those who begin by neglecting what at
first are slight defects in the teeth seem to acquire in the course of
time a sort of habit of doing this, and ultimately disregard and fail to
have corrected the more serious diseases of the dental structures.
Nothing is more common than for the practicing physician to find patients
with one or more teeth partially gone, or, even worse, with only the
exposed roots remaining.

Where cavities exist, food is constantly forced into them, and undergoing
decomposition, the breath of their owner becomes foul, and portions of
decayed food mixed with multitudes of bacteria are constantly swallowed;
sooner or later there inevitably follows under such circumstances
catarrhal conditions of the stomach, which reaches a point in some
individuals where the health is seriously threatened. Not only do bad
teeth produce trouble in the way just mentioned, but there is every
reason to believe that germs that produce disease--particularly those
that cause consumption--not uncommonly find their way to the interior of
the body through the resulting cavities.

It is the duty of everyone to properly cleanse the teeth at least once
daily--to do so after each meal would be even still better. This should
be done with a moderately soft brush, with which it is unnecessary to use
tooth-powders or lotions--though many prefer to do so. Where something of
the kind is desired, ordinary lime-water is perhaps as satisfactory as
anything else; peroxide of hydrogen, diluted eight or ten times with
water, to which a pinch or two of ordinary cooking soda has been added,
undoubtedly aids the cleansing process, and has the advantage that it
leaves a pleasant after-taste in the mouth. In brushing the teeth care
should be taken that every part of the tooth receives attention, it being
not sufficient, as is so often done, merely to brush the front. It should
be the practice of everyone to have the teeth looked over at least once a
year by a good dentist, as even where cleansing is diligently performed
decay frequently sets in on their inner sides.

The utmost care sho