HUM AX iHUMAXE) DENTISTRY. 217 



A large elephant weighs 7,000 pounds. The Indian elephant 

 is 10 feet in hight, the African 12 ; a skeleton in the St. Peters- 

 burg Museum is 16|. 



HUMAN TEETH. 



FILLING children's TEETH.* 



Filling the deciduous or first set of teeth prevents decay 

 and consequent injury to the second set,f alleviates pain, facil- 

 itates speech.^ mastication, and regularity in the growth of the 

 second set, aids in keeping the breath pure, and is conducive 

 to health at a very critical time of life. They should be filled 

 as long as filling will preserve their usefulness, and at all times, 

 for some are shed as early as the fifth or sixth year, others 

 as late as the eleventh or twelfth. Any of the usual fillings 

 will answer, the sole object being to arrest decay and "aid 

 somatic development " (Odell). Children should be taught to 

 use a brush and proper dentifrices. Defective teeth are often 

 the result of improper diet during utro-gestation. Drs. J. Allen 

 and G. M. Eddy say that mothers do not eat enough bone- 

 producing food, such as oatmeal, bread made from unbolted 

 flour, &c., but admit that such foods do not assimilate in every 

 case. Dentists differ as to the advisability of the use of 

 anaesthetics in treating children. 



The teething period is longer than is usually supposed. It 

 begins about the seventh month before birth § and continues 



* The object of this brief article is merely to call attention to an impor- 

 tant subject. My own attention was directed to it by Mr. E. A. Rockwell 

 in an interesting article in the New TorTc Sun. Readers who wish to study 

 the subject are referred to the elaborate works of dentists. Besides the 

 dentists mentioned above I have consulted Drs. G. H. Rich, F. Abbott, and 

 C. E. and J. S. Latimer, all of "NTew York. 



t Dr. T. P. Wagoner (Knightstown, Ind., Dental ISfeivs) approves the 

 above, and in addition says the development of a permanent tooth may 

 be retarded by a dead deciduous tooth. 



X Haller and other physiologists give minute accounts of the effects 

 produced by teeth in articulating the various letters of the alphabet.— 

 Bostock. 



§ For the development of human tooth-germs from the seventh week 

 tUl birth see page 46. 



