Medicine: Essence of Deaf Smith

Nobody knows just what it is about Deaf Smith County, Tex. But for some reason, Deaf Smith citizens are almost immune to tooth decay (TIME, Nov. 10, 1941). Last fortnight Dr. George W. Heard, the local dentist who drew national attention to Deaf Smith’s perfect teeth, and Dr. F. Melton Butler of Seattle announced that they had a charter for a foundation to discover, produce and market the essence of Deaf Smith—whatever it may be.

Dentists suspect that the county’s main tooth preserver is fluorine. Everywhere surveys have been made, the quality of teeth has been found to vary with the amount of fluorine in the local water supply: too little fluorine—much dental decay; too much fluorine—hard, but mottled, teeth (TIME, Jan. 8, 1940); fluorine just right—excellent teeth.