That man's teeth are naturally as sound and durable as those of the lower animals was shown in Vol. I. Geologists and paleontologists often unearth the skulls of peoples long dead, the teeth of which show no signs of decay and the enamel on which is often almost double the thickness and much harder than the enamel on our teeth.

Today most of the civilized portions of the race are a race of dental cripples. We are face to face with the fact that our teeth begin to decay in childhood. Indeed they sometimes have cavities in them when they erupt.

In 1913 Dr. A. Freedman Foot examined 1,694 children in six clinics and found eleven of these with normal teeth. In his report to the Second District Dental Society of New York, Dr. Foot said: "The six year molars of nearly every child was broken down wholly or in part. In many instances the molars were decayed when they came through the gums. So extensive and far advanced were the defects that corrective treatment, even if it were applied would have been of little value."

Dr. Louis Goldstein, New York City, declares: "After examining the teeth of not less than 400 school children in my home neighborhood here in Bronx, I have yet to see a perfect set of six-year molars (first four permanent teeth to appear in childhood). These teeth in nearly every instance were entirely decayed. I have never observed a perfect set of teeth in any American child and have but one adult patient showing extremely good teeth. She is a young woman."

The six year molars are the first of the permanent teeth to erupt. They should last throughout the life of the individual. Why should they decay in childhood? Why should they have cavities in them when they erupt? It is evident that such teeth cannot be saved by brushing the teeth. They must be saved before they ever come through the gums or they will not be saved. Something more fundamental than "uncleanliness" of the surface of the teeth and mouth is concerned with the production of tooth-decay. Until this is recognized by the parents of the world, there is no hope of ever saving the teeth of our children.

Hugh W. McMillan, D.D.S., M.D., of Cincinnati, says: "To a careful observer of dental conditions at the present time in clinic and private practice, it is very evident the ravages of dental caries and diseases of the gums are daily increasing, in spite of the increasing number of dentists, in spite of the multiplicity of patented and personally-designated tooth brushes, in spite of proprietary pyorrhoea cures and gum massaging pastes, in spite of acid, alkaline, neutral, mucin-dissolving and film destroying tooth pastes and mouth-washes and in spite of the type of periodontologist who aims to prevent by either applying or removing something from the tooth surface in the same manner that some unintelligent physician might expect to cure by external applications a skin disease of general origin.

"Treated by a combination of all these methods dental decay and gum diseases progressively continue, causing pain, discomfort, nervous disorders, impaired digestion and local infection, until after a losing fight the bewildered patient rests edentulous and free from organs which under the present regime may be considered physiologically superfluous."

Dr. H. J. Morris, president of the Yorkshire Branch of the British Medical Association says: "The cry that clean teeth do not decay is really absurd, because under the popular method of feeding, the teeth cannot be kept clean. Surely we have seen enough by this time to have lost our faith in the tooth brush, and it is time the people lost theirs too. The old belief should be modified by a new one.

"As a matter of fact," Dr. McMillan says: "the tooth brush does not get in between the teeth or down in the occlusal fissures or around fillings or under the gingival margins. The actual places where decay primarily occurs are not touched by the brush. As ordinarily used, about all the brush accomplishes is to polish the already self-cleansing surfaces.

"Is it sufficient to tell a patient that a clean tooth never decays, when it is often impossible to clean it with sealers? Is it right to tell a child to brush his teeth so that they will not decay, when often patients are seen who brush their teeth several times each day and still caries are rampant?"

I have seen children whose teeth were all but wholly destroyed despite the regular and frequent use of the tooth brush. The enamel was melted off their teeth down to the gum line, the teeth were "eaten" away until they were not larger than needles; along the gums they were black and often covered with tartar. It is foolish for dentists and the manufacturers of tooth brushes and toothpastes to tell these children and their parents that "a clean tooth never decays."

Parents are advised to have the dentists frequently examine the teeth of their children and repair all defective first teeth, because the jaws do not develop properly if the temporary teeth are lost and the second set of teeth will be impaired by this loss. This is a case of getting the cart before the horse. The loss of teeth does not cause the faulty development of the jaws, nor the injury to the permanent teeth. The permanent teeth suffer, the jaws fail to develop properly and the first teeth are lost due to the same common cause.