MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 



The importance of these conditions is emphasized by a mass 

 of information showing with startling distinctness that as civiliza- 

 tion advances human teeth tend to become less efficient and even 

 to disappear. According to Dr. Rose* only about 2 per cent of 

 the Eskimos have defective teeth, 3 to 10 per cent of the American 

 Indians, 3 to 20 per cent of Malays, 40 per cent of Chinese, and 80 

 to 96 per cent of Europeans and Americans. There is evidence 

 showing that for centuries the lower face and jaws of civilized man 

 have been deteriorating. An examination of 402 British soldiersf 

 revealed the fact that only eight had a width of jaw equal to the 

 average jaw width of the Roman soldier. The average American 

 jaw has been found to be more than one-third of an inch narrower 

 than that of the ancient Roman. These facts mean that we are 

 here dealing with a problem in which we must do far more than 

 merely let nature have her own way if we are to conserve normal 

 healthy conditions. 



There is another mass of evidence tending to show in definite, 

 quantitative terms the importance of good teeth among school 

 children. In Chapter XI, on Physical Defects and School Prog- 

 ress, are quoted data taken from an investigation in New York 

 City which showed that, on the average, children having defective 

 teeth take one-half a year longer to complete the elementary 

 school course than do children not so afflicted. 



In the Nineteenth Century for July, 1899, Dr. Collinsf reports 

 an investigation indicating that children with good teeth stand 

 appreciably higher in scholarship and school promotion than do 

 those having poor teeth. 



In 1901, Dr. Johnson conducted an investigation in the 

 schools of Andover, Massachusetts^ which showed that in physi- 

 cal development as indicated by weight, children with good teeth 

 were on the average about half a year ahead of children with poor 



* Dr. Karl Rose, Die Zahnpflege in den Schulen. Zeitschrift fur Schulge- 

 sundheitspflege, 1895, Vol. VIII, pp. 65-87. Referred to by W. H. Burnham, op. 

 cit. 



t Examination of British and American Soldiers. Referred to by E. S. 

 Talbot: Degeneracy, Its Causes, Signs and Results. Contemporary Science Series. 



t Collins, Dr. Edwin: The Teeth of the School Boy. Nineteenth Century, 

 July, 1899, p. 84. 



Johnson, Dr. George E.: The Condition of the Teeth of School Children 

 in Public Schools. Pedagogical Seminary, March, 1901, pp. 45-58. 



116 



