When To Clean the Teeth.

If the teeth are to get but one thorough cleansing during the day, just before retiring is the best time to give it to them, as there are six or eight hours' sleep that the salivary glands are inactive, and fatty and starchy foods that may be lodged between and around the teeth are bathed in saliva, a partial digestive fluid, undergo decomposition, forming acids which act more or less readily on the tooth structure at the time of its formation. The salivary glands not active during sleep, acids are not diluted, as during day; a free flow of saliva prevents to a great degree the deleterious effects of acids thus formed.—Medical Summary.

Ellingwood's Therapeutist, Vol. 2, 1908, was edited by Finley Ellingwood M.D.