How Are Your Teeth?

Teeth are an invaluable nuisance. They have to be looked after, and yet the most dentist-conscious nations have the most trouble with their teeth. Dr. Hans H. Neumann, a Columbia University researcher, seems to feel that all civilized man can do about it is to sell his teeth dearly. Dr. Neumann declares with Spartan glumness: "The incidence of toothbrushes in different countries is in inverse proportion to the incidence of sound teeth, and poor oral hygiene is predominant in areas with exceptionally good teeth." (Dr. Neumann was thinking particularly of a sight he saw in Samoa: a native nurse, who had lost several teeth and had many fillings, trying to teach her kinsmen--all of whom had perfect teeth--how to use a toothbrush.)

Surveying medical progress (or the lack of it) in dealing with tooth decay, in the New York State Journal of Medicine, Dr. Neumann finds a big hidden cavity in every current theory and practice. A well-balanced diet is not the answer: some of the world's worst-fed peoples have the best teeth. Vitamins have no observable effect. Dr. Neumann rules out heredity, climate and sunshine. The case for fluorine (TIME, April 9), he believes, is not proved.

The one thing that always seems to go with sound teeth is vigorous chewing and tough food, Dr. Neumann finds. Wherever cutlery and good table manners appear, teeth decay. His prescription for postponing tooth decay: chew hard on tough, sour bread of the kind made by European peasants. Better still, let children chew raw sugar cane.

Since neither black bread nor sugar cane can be found in U.S. metropolitan areas, Dr. Neumann concludes: "The chewing of pencils, leather or pieces of wood by children should be regarded as a wholesome instinct and not as a neurotic trait."

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