Medicine: Deaf Smith’s Perfect Teeth

Teeth just plain don’t decay in Deaf Smith County, on the sandy plains of the Texas panhandle. (Elsewhere in the U.S. 95 out of 100 have dental caries.) This remarkable fact was reported last week to the Houston meeting of the American Dental Association by Dr. Edward Taylor, chief dentist of the Texas State Board of Health.

Dr. Taylor picked at random 43 native-born Deaf Smithers ranging in age from two years to past “middle age.” His findings: “Not one single carious tooth or filling was found.” People with the usual number of cavities who moved to Deaf Smith from other States soon found to their surprise that their teeth stopped decaying. The cavities they had already healed over in a short time, developed “hard glazed floors and surfaces.”

According to Dr. Taylor’s research, the secret of Deaf Smith’s perfect teeth has little to do with tooth-brushing, orange juice, or other common measures to save the teeth; it lies in the land. Unique features:

> The topsoil in Deaf Smith is dark, sandy loam; underneath is a bed of caliche, which is rich in calcium carbonate. Locally grown wheat has an unusually high protein content, and six times more phosphorus than standard flour. Deaf Smith milk has 30% more phosphorus than the accepted standards for milk; carrots, turnip greens, beans, lettuce and cabbage are also rich in the mineral. All these elements are essential for building bone and muscle.

> Since the county is arid, all Deaf Smith farms and many village homes are equipped with one or more windmills, drawing water from a depth of 70 or 80 feet. This water has a great deal of calcium and just the right amount of fluorine to preserve teeth. In several Midwest States an abundance of fluorine in drinking water causes dark brown mottled teeth, pits and erosions; in Deaf Smith the mottling is very mild.