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Your Teeth Tell Tales—Read Them: An Outline of Some of the Work and Findings of Dr. Martha R. Jones
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“But Doctor, you’ve already pulled two of Johnny’s teeth and he is only 12. Isn’t there something we can do to save them? He has his orange juice, his milk, his egg, cereal, vitamins, sun baths, and still his teeth decay. Can’t we do something?”
The dentist shook his head, ” I only wish I knew; 95% of our children have decaying teeth.”
On a sugar plantation in Hawaii, a woman watched a little Filipino mother walk wearily down the village road, her sick baby in her arms. Could that baby be saved, or would it die as the plantation doctor said it would, die as its four little brothers and sisters had, and scores of others as well, as they approached their first birthday? Could the pink-eye, the habitual head colds and incessant discharge from nose, ears and eyes of the village children be checked? Could the enamel of their teeth be hardened and the ravages of decay be stopped? Could the towering infant death rate of the village–one baby dead before its first birthday out of each three born–be lowered?
Dr. Martha Jones–a doctor because of a Ph.D. degree in physiological chemistry conferred upon her by Yale–sighed and turned back to the little house on the outskirts of the village, which the plantation manager had loaned her for her experiment. “You may conduct your feeding experiment in the village and use one of the vacant houses for it, but it must not cost the Plantation Company anything,” he had said. And he kept his word. How she had scrubbed and cleaned the little house and readied it for clinic use, yet not a baby was enrolled. How could she know that the house was “haunted”, that its newly painted floors were blood stained, and that for years it had been enveloped in weeds and brush and given a wide berth by the villagers?
For three months she worked and tried to win the confidence of the villagers who were not used to white people and did not speak English. Then it happened. In wild desperation the mother, whose fifth baby was about to die, dared bring the child to the strange woman in the “haunted” house and feed him the food she prepared for him. The baby lived and throve. Other mothers saw what had happened and brought their babies, too, and others, until every one of the 33 babies in the village was a regular attendant at the Health Center. During those first months not a baby died! Gone were pneumonia, diarrhea, running eyes, ears and noses. New teeth erupted stronger and more resistant to decay.
Four years later Dr. Jones watched the laughing, sturdy, clear-eyed children at play in the main Health Center’s yard. There were four Health Centers now. Could it be possible? Could it be true that within four years her theory that physical well being and teeth were so closely related, and that diet played a controlling part in the determination of both? Those 225 babies, now fed essentially on Health Center food, answered her. What a contrast were they to the less fortunate plantation children, and neighbors! How many of them, healthy, happy and well, would otherwise be dead?
During those first sixteen months she had fought alone, then came recognition and help. The Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association, The Queen’s Hospital, The Castle Foundation, and the Ewa Plantation Company–had all contributed. Mothers of the babies had been trained to carry on the work as each new center was established. Already the project included the pre-school and school children, girls and women’s activities. Its fame had spread throughout the Islands and in distant lands. Many visitors came and demonstrations and lectures given. In another year, enrollment of babies under three years of age had exceeded 300, and nearly 200 had “graduated” into the pre-school group. That year, as it had previously, the infant mortality rate for the Center again was zero, with sickness and tooth decay an all time low.
The doctor sighed; those eight long years she had put in at the University of California, 1920-1928, living with her 300 dogs so that she might not miss any significant changes, were worth it. She had found her puppies’ teeth, when fed on a highly alkaline diet, grew perfect enamel but were pulp inside. She had gone to the convention of dentists at Washington, D.C., and presented her findings only to be told that it was of purely academic interest, her experiments had been only with dogs. Besides, the condition she described–”Odontoclasia”–tooth decay–did not exist among human beings. Then up rose one dentist. “Gentleman, you are wrong, 50% of the population of the world has that condition. You will find it rampant in Asia, in Hawaii.” And so, three months later she had arrived in Hawaii. She must prove her findings! Could she? Would her findings with her little brown puppies be indeed supported by her findings with little brown babies? These healthy, laughing, sturdy bodies romping around her, those strong, flashing teeth–answered her. And those 225 babies, healthy, and strong, echoed the answer.
What miracle wrought this change in puppies and babies alike? Clearly it was a proper balance between grains and grain-like foods, and greens and greens-like foods. The ash of the former (cereals, meat, fish, chicken and eggs) is acid in reaction; the ash of the green leaf and other greens-like vegetables, fruits and milk–alkaline. Too much of the acid-formers in proportion to the alkaline spelled tooth decay, susceptibility to head colds and other respiratory ills. In Hawaii conditions were extreme: a strongly acid-forming diet with lots of sunshine. And the results were equally extreme: rampant decay of newly erupted teeth of babies, high infant death rate, stunted growth, high susceptibility to colds, pneumonia and numerous other ills.
Dr. Jones became silent. She was recalling those childhood days of hers in Tennessee when, spoiled by her mother and her black mammy, she had lived largely on milk and eggs–her favorite foods. And she recalled, too, how her six-year molars became so decayed they had to be drawn before she was 8. With most of her molars gone, her mouth formation changed, the arch was raised, the sinus’ blocked and she had almost constant illness until, at 18, she resolved to find out why she had had such ill health and what to do about it. Followed years of hard work at college, fellowships in bio-chemistry, an assistant-ship to L. B. Mendel, of Yale–his “first woman assistant”–on her arrival at Yale. More fellowships and her degree as Doctor of Physical Chemistry, from Yale. Followed years of research, of long, patient years experimenting with dogs; of hard, fighting years at Hawaii when, by night, she worked on autopsies to secure her material, and by day fought the resistance to her work on the Ewa Plantation. And now–her answer: those happy, healthy, sturdy children with their strong bodies, strong teeth and clear, bright eyes.
“The Jones’ Diet Balance?” Laughingly she replied:” Call it a grain-greens balance, or an acid-alkali balance.”
“The miracle?”
“In diets such as that recommended by the Bureau of Home Economics, Red Cross, etc. simply substitute a certain amount of green-leaf vegetables and molasses for some of the grain and refined sugar, and then watch the difference in Johnny’s teeth. When you are tired, it’s probably because you have too much acid in your system. Try taking a ‘cocktail’ of a tablespoon of real, dark molasses (be careful you do not get that combined with corn syrup), in a glass of water to which the juice of a lemon is added; or put it into a glass of milk or orange juice–and then see what ‘pep’ you will have.”
“What did I do in Hawaii? I found the plantation worker living on a diet principally of rice. Over 94 million pounds of rice were consumed in Hawaii in 1932, and over 27½ million pounds of wheat and other grains. They fed the babies and children quantities of rice. I simply had them go back to the native Polynesian foods, to the foods that made the old, native Hawaiian and Samoans famous for their fine teeth and magnificent physique (before the white man came with his grains, his refined sugar, and his decaying teeth). I substituted their native taro and sweet potato, and lots of vegetables, for the rice. And I gave them sugar cane syrup in place of the refined sugar. The Polynesians, you know, chewed a foot or two of sugar cane as their dessert. And the Plantation negroes of the South had their molasses, corn pone and turnip tops–and what fine teeth they had!”
“How did you save those babies?”
“By giving them a diluted sugar-cane, citrus juice which I made myself. Sometimes I had to give it with an eye-dropper when the baby was only a few hours old, and too weak to swallow. Later, perhaps in two or three days, it was combined with evaporated milk.”
Little brown puppies, little brown babies, their teeth told tales of the years of undaunted, swerving, devoted labor of Dr. Jones. Tales that should be read and read by the mother of today for Johnny’s teeth tell tales, tales of the ravaging decay sweeping over the teeth of our American children today, tales of an almost 100% decay with its subsequent undermining of health.
“Johnny’s diet is too acid. Give him vegetables and fruits, but be sure one serving out of every five, of vegetables, is a tender-leaf green one, be sure that he has some molasses each day. Cut down on his cereal and then, watch the change. Remember, vegetables are not inter-changeable, they do not all rest the same. Be sure and give him a tender-leaf green vegetable and then read the tale his teeth will tell.”
Little brown puppies, little brown babies your teeth have told us tales. Read them, mother of Johnny, read them and follow them, and a year from now read the new tale Johnny’s teeth will tell: a tale of arrested tooth decay, of fewer colds, of sturdier bodies and better health.
Editor’s note: Since the era in which this article was written, society’s understanding of respectful terminology when referring to ethnic and cultural groups has evolved, and some readers may be offended by references to “Negroes” and other out-of-date terminology. However, this article has been archived as a historical document, and so we have chosen to use the author’s exact words in the interest of authenticity. No disrespect to any cultural or ethnic group is intended.