Page 149 - My FlipBook

FOURTEENTH LECTURE.
Prevalence of Caries.

Caries of the teeth is the most prevalent* disease to which
man is Hable. There is no other disease which afflicts so
large a proportion of the human family. In every community
we will find some persons who are immune to dental caries,
but it is the exception to the rule. Now, this cannot be said
of any other disease ; no other disease afflicts so many.
There is perhaps no other one disease that entails so much
of human suffering, particularly if we include those diseases
that arise as the direct consequence of dental caries. There is
no tribe of men known who are free from dental caries, and
has not been, so far as we have any history of the human
race. And the remains of men, so far as we can find them,
back in geological time, show traces of dental caries. True,
some tribes are less afflicted than others. It is generally con-
ceded that civilized peoples are more afflicted with dental
caries than the uncivilized, and yet, from observations that I
have myself made, and many observations of others, it seems
doubtful if this is true. Indeed, the uncivilized are suffering
more nowadays from caries of the teeth than the civilized
peoples, not that the attacks are more frequent among them,
but from the care now taken among civilized peoples, the suf-
fering from this cause is very much reduced.
Now, you are starting out to make it your business to
reduce this still more. It will be your business in life to
bring about a further reduction of the suffering of humanity
from caries of the teeth. This being true, it becomes your
business here to study this process of caries, to learn it so
that you will know it well and be able to devise means to
combat its evil influences. We may possibly in time be able
to almost eradicate caries by prevention, but at present this
is out of the question and we have to combat it as it arises,
attempt to cure it or prevent its progress, and in this way
lessen its evil results. When the times comes that we can
render persons imnume by the use of medicines, or other
forms of remedies, the case will be different, but at the
present we can only work and wait. Certain means we can
use, it is true, to lessen it in some degree, but for the most

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