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The Root of the Problem, Part 2

by Rhonda McBride
Thursday, May 3, 2007

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Sugar: the smoking gun for tooth decay in rural Alaska. When it was first introduced in the Bush, people had no idea that it would take only a few generations to turn the healthiest teeth in the world into some of the worst.

On the Kuskokwim River in June the modern world fades away and it's a time to get a taste of what it was like, long ago when people lived off the land.

Last summer was hard on John Active. He couldn't eat dry salmon, not very well anyway. In preparation for dentures he had all his teeth pulled.

"I never had nobody tell me to brush my teeth. I never saw young people brushing their teeth when I was growing up," Active said.

  Active's world as a boy was very different from the world of children today. Back then parents talked a lot about surviving off the land, not about teeth.

"They never talked about it. I heard of one guy up in the village, Tundra. He used to brush his teeth. I don't know. He was a store keeper. And he used to brush his teeth with charcoal. The only guy I ever heard of brushing his teeth," Active said.

If you came to fish camp a hundred years ago, you wouldn't see children brushing their teeth. Yet they had good teeth. 

New York dentist Dr. Leuman Waugh's made that discovery when he traveled to the Arctic in the ‘20s and ‘30s.

Waugh was working on teeth and doing research when he came to the conclusion that the more traditional foods the locals ate the better their teeth were.  

In a 1930 newspaper article he is quoted as saying, "Of all races, the teeth of the Eskimo are most excellent. Where they eat Native foods, their teeth are less likely to decay of any known race. But when they eat our sweets and starches, their misery begins."

In the National Museum of the American Indian in Maryland there are archives filled with Waugh's papers and photographs.

Waugh's works as an amateur photographer and his meticulous dental records have captured plenty of attention. 

The ships that Dr. Waugh traveled on faded into history, but thanks to him we can travel back in time.

Lou Stancari and Mary Jane Lenz of the National Museum of the American Indian are quite taken with Waugh's work.

"Well frankly, he's pretty good. We know the location.  We know the date. You never have that information," Stancari said.

Lenz agrees.

"He's better than a lot of them," Lenz said.

Waugh's research shows he was ahead of his time. He sent out surveys to villages all across Alaska asking missionaries and school teachers to answer questions about what people were eating and the condition of their teeth.

One of the surveys went to Anna Schwalbe a Moravian missionary in Quinhagak.

She checked off a number of traditional foods, but also a lot of carbohydrates and sugars.

Waugh also asked if the teeth of the older generation were markedly better than the younger.      

He got the same answer, in almost every survey -- the teeth of the young villagers were in worse shape than their elder's.

The missionary also included a note about a Native man who wanted his tooth pulled. After struggling to get it out, he knocked it out with an ivory wedge and a hammer.

By 1937 Waugh concluded that when dental decay began in Alaska Natives it was much worse than among non-Natives.

It wasn't long before Waugh's fears came to pass.  

When general stores appeared in villages, the teeth deteriorated.

Dr. Harriet Jackson was the only physician in Western Alaska during 1956 doing double duty as a dentist. She did have Novocaine, but her main tool was a pair of pliers.

Dentists today said Waugh got it exactly right when he said tooth decay would be worse for Alaska Natives.

Dr. Edwin Allgair of the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation said a diet of fish and game creates a type of bacteria that goes while when it comes into contact with contact with sugar.

"If you feed the sugar-loving bacteria, they produce more acid. The six-pack of Coke that somebody here might drink, might be more damaging to them, than if you drank a six-pack of Coke," Allgair said.

Active said his early diet may have lead to some of his current dental problems.

"I was raised by my grandmother and I was the only kid in the family. I guess they must of gave me a lot of candy, whatever I wanted. I remember lots of pop," Active said.

It was the beginning of how Active lost what was most precious to him.

After Active got his dentures he could do a better job of reading the news and his listeners noticed.

"When people meet me on the street, they always ask me to smile. They want to see my brand new choppers," Active said.

He's also got something else to smile about. This summer Active will return to fish camp and be able to enjoy the foods that feed both body and soul.

Active's stories about Native culture have been heard on National Public Radio. He hasn't contributed in a long time, but now that he can speak clearly again he'd like to give it another try. 

A doctor is currently looking over some of Waugh's data.

Research indicates we all have bacteria in our mouths; mothers pass it on to their babies. People who have a diet of wild fish and game have different bacteria than those who are accustomed to eating sugars and starches.

Those people who have a heritage of subsistence diets are much more vulnerable to tooth decay.    

Contact Rhonda McBride at rmcbride@ktuu.com