Why Teeth Decay

Three hundred orphans in an asylum near Ann Arbor, Mich, raised a tumult of delight last week when they learned that Professor Russell Welford Bunting, University of Michigan oral pathologist, had decided that acidophilus bacilli make teeth decay. That meant that Professor Bunting probably was through fussing with the mouths, meals, appetites and digestions of the 300 orphans, whom he has had under close dietary supervision for the past five years.

Acidophilus bacilli are the germs which the late great Russian Biologist Elie Metchnikoff recommended as an aid to digestion and longevity. They live and reproduce in every person's mouth, as well as in his bowels. But they do not attack the teeth of a masticator until his natural immunity to them drops below a certain level. Seven out of every hundred people retain such immunity throughout life; ten are born lacking it entirely; and 83 retain it only if they eat sensibly. Gist of Dentist Bunting's remarks last week before the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts & Letters:

"The thing that seems to foster the heavy growth and activity of the bacillus in the mouth is a diet rich in carbohydrates, especially sugar. A high bacillary count, in turn, is almost always found to be associated with a high rate of decay. At the orphanage it was found that caries [decay] could be practically eliminated, except in the over-susceptible group, by the feeding of a uniform, fairly adequate, low sugar diet."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.