The Influence of Diet upon the Teeth

Abstract

OWING to-the prevalence of dental caries under our present conditions of living and dieting, knowledge of its cause, and the means by which it may be prevented or its ravages mitigated, is of great importance not only to the individual but also to the nation. During the last decade, attention has been directed by a number of observers to the influence which various types of diet may exert upon the structure of the teeth, often in conjunction with their effects upon other tissues of the body, especially the skeleton. This work has demonstrated that diet plays an important part in producing abnormalities of the teeth of experimental animals: the relationship of these abnormalities to dental caries is not so clear, since animals comparatively rarely suffer from this type of dental disease. Some evidence has been produced that there is a definite relationship between the structure of the teeth and caries, but it has not met with universal acceptance. In this article the influence of diet upon the structure of the teeth will be more especially considered, and the problem of dental caries only mentioned incidentally, where it appears to throw light upon the manner in which diet may affect the teeth. To illustrate the points raised, reference will be made to a few of the more recent papers dealing with the subject: further details will be found in these papers and also in those mentioned in their bibliographies.