or, firm and regular pressure and exercise against its fellow in the
jaw above or below, gets a twist in its socket, wears away irregularly,
and becomes an easy prey to decay, while from failure of the entire
upper and lower arches of the teeth to meet squarely and press evenly
and firmly against one another, the jaws fail to expand properly and the
tendency to narrowing of the tooth-arches and upward vaulting of the
palate is increased.

In short, we are coming to the conclusion that from half to two-thirds
of all cases of "crowded mouth," irregular teeth, and high-arched palate
in children are due to adenoids. Progressive dentists now are insisting
upon their little patients, who come to them with these conditions,
being examined for adenoids, and upon the removal of these, if found, as
a preliminary measure to mechanical corrective treatment. Cases are now
on record of children with two, three, or even four generations of
crowded teeth and narrow mouths behind them, but who, simply by being
sharply watched for nasal obstruction and the symptoms of adenoids, by
the removal of these latter as soon as they have put in an appearance,
have grown up with even, regular, well-developed teeth and wide, healthy
mouths and jaws. Unfortunately, attention to the adenoids will not
remove these defects of the jaws and teeth after they have been
produced. But, if the child be under ten, or even twelve, years of age,
their removal may yet do much permanently to improve the condition, and
is certainly well worth while on general principles.

Take care of the nose, and the jaws will take care of themselves. An
ounce of adenoids-removal in the young child is worth a pound of
_orthodontia_--teeth-straightening--in the boy or girl; though both are
often necessary.

The dull, dead tone of the voice in these children is, of course, an
obvious effect of the blocked nostrils. Similarly, the broken sleep,
with dreams of suffocation and of "Things Sitting on the Chest," are
readily explained by the desperate efforts that the little one makes to
breathe through clogging nostrils, in which the discharges, blown and
sneezed out in the daytime, dry and accumulate during sleep, until,
half-suffocated, it "lets go" and draws in huge gulps of air through the
open mouth. No child ever became a mouth-breather from choice, or until
after a prolonged struggle to continue breathing through its nose.

This brings us to the question, What are these adenoi