RT Journal
A1 Talbot ES
T1 PAthology of the mouth in scurvy
JF Journal of the American Medical Association
JO Journal of the American Medical Association
YR 1919
FD September 13
VO 73
IS 11
SP 853
OP 854
DO 10.1001/jama.1919.02610370051022
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1919.02610370051022
AB To the Editor: 
    —I am prompted to write because of the editorial on "Diet in Relation to the Teeth" (The Journal, Aug. 9, 1919, p. 425).It is true that the dental profession has gone daft on the subject of bacteria as a cause of disease in the mouth. The statement that "they [dentists] seem not to realize that the presence of bacteria in itself never causes disease: we have millions of bacteria in our intestines and still thrive. What harm do the micro-organisms do in the mouth?" is timely. If the dentists were more broadly educated, much time could be saved in the present methods of research. The "powers of resistance" have as much to do with diseases in the mouth as in other parts of the body—indeed, more so in regard to scurvy and kindred diseases of the jaws and alveolar processes, which is my purpose here to