Popular Science Monthly 



325 



© Underwood and Underwood 



Bridgeport school children going through a tooth-brush drill. Thousands of school children 

 and adults in other cities are now given a regular drill in the care of their teeth 



The Tooth-Brush Drill Has Become a 

 Part of the School Course 



DECAYED teeth are causing more 

 harm to the human race than alcohol. 

 Dr. Alfred C. Fones, of Bridgeport, Conn., 

 says that approximately ninety-five millions 

 of persons in the United States have decayed 

 teeth. Dentistry's next great step, in his 

 opinion, is to wipe out or prevent tooth 

 decay by a systematic campaign of educa- 

 tion on the care of the teeth among 

 school children. 



How shall this be done? Bridgeport's 

 plan has attracted wide attention already. 

 Every child in that city submits to a 

 thorough examina- 

 tion of the mouth 

 and is given free 

 treatment. This 

 type of clinic costs 

 about eighty cents 

 per child per year. 

 The city assumes 

 one half the respon- 

 sibility in educating 

 and helping the 

 children to preserve 

 their teeth. The 

 other half, which is 

 placed on the child 

 and its parents, con- 

 sists in providing 

 proper food and in 

 caring for the mouth. 



Decayed teeth are due to the action of 

 acids on the teeth, followed by the work of 

 micro-organisms flourishing in the remains 

 of food. To combat decay the surface of 

 the teeth must be kept absolutely clean 

 and free from deposits and accretions. 



The scissors-grinding machine run by dog 

 power. Nothing less than a full day's work 

 .with a half hour's sleep at noon satisfies Rover 



Operating a Scissors Sharpener 

 by Dog-Power 



TH E itinerant tradesman, umbrella 

 mender and scissors sharpener are 

 familiar figures in the suburbs and on the 

 outskirts of large cities, where they break 

 the silence and the monotony of the hours 

 with their horns. But in the rural districts 

 the companion of such vendors is usually 

 a dog of nondescript type. 



That the dog may be made a useful 

 member of the firm has been proven by a 

 man who travels through Carpenteria, Cal., 

 soliciting scissors-grinding trade. He has 

 a machine for the work and the dog has 

 been taught to fur- 

 nish the power for 

 it. This he does 

 right merrily. He 

 gets on the wheel of 

 his own accord and 

 treads away with 

 vigor, while his 

 master sharpens 

 scissors and knives. 

 To all appearances 

 the dog thinks it is 

 a game devised for 

 his amusement; but 

 the owner believes 

 that a sense of re- 

 sponsibility and a 

 desire to do a full 

 share of the work of 

 the day is stronger than the play spirit in 

 his companion. 



When business is slack the animal will 

 run to his wheel and bark reproachfully at 

 his master until the man feels obliged to 

 attach the rope which turns the grinder. 



