ADENOIDS AND ENLARGED TONSILS

FIG. 36. Children with adenoids. Many children who have adenoids breathe through the mouth only at night or when they have a cold.

THERE are certain troubles of the nose and throat which do not often cause either sickness or pain, but which narrow or close the air passages and keep the person from getting a sufficient supply of air. These diseases often go on for years without being discovered, but they are serious and should be promptly treated when found. How common these troubles are is shown by the fact that in 415 villages of New York State it was found that nearly one eighth of the school children were breathing through the mouth instead of the nose.

The evil effect of breathing through the mouth. Mouth breathing causes the upper teeth to turn forward and the lips to thicken and turn out, thus spoiling the appearance of the face. What is more serious, it allows millions of bacteria to get

into the mouth, and it allows cold and dusty air to reach the throat and lungs. Worst of all, the general health of the mouth breather is weakened. adenoids

FIG. 37. Adenoids grow high in the throat and block the openings from the nose into the throat.

The cause of mouth breathing is usually adenoid growths or enlarged tonsils.

Adenoids. Examinations have shown that in moist climates as many as one sixth of all the children of school age may have adenoids. These are soft, spongy bodies that grow high up in the back of the throat (Fig. 37). Sometimes they fill the whole throat, and they partly or entirely close the passages from the nose into the throat, so that the person must breathe through the mouth. They are often the cause of deafness also. The usual symp

toms of adenoids are breathing through the mouth, a narrow upper jaw and crowded teeth, thick lips and a running nose, difficulty in talking, inflamed eyes, and deafness. In most cases the inner corners of the eyes are drawn down, and the face has the strained expression that you see on the faces of the children in Figure 36. Many children who have adenoid growths are smaller than they ought to be, some of them have difficulty in keeping up with their classes, and sometimes adenoids have the strange effect of causing the child to be restless, idle, stupid, quarrelsome, and a general mischief-maker.

Enlarged tonsils. The tonsils are located one on each side of the throat. Sometimes they become infected with germs and so swollen that they almost close the opening of the throat. This condition is so common that when 275,000 children in the New York City schools were examined, more than one fourth of them were found to have enlarged tonsils. Such a condition of the tonsils causes mouth breathing, and the germs from them are a continual danger to the voice, the lungs, and the digestive organs.

The importance of treating adenoids and enlarged tonsils. Does your nose become stopped up whenever you take a little cold? Do the other members of your family tell you that you sleep with your mouth open and that you snore in your sleep? Is it hard for you to keep your nose clean? Do you

talk through your nose? Are you troubled with earache or deafness? Do you suffer from tonsillitis, or do you have any other of the symptoms of adenoids?

If you are troubled in any of these ways, ask your parents to take you to a physician, who, by a very small operation, can remove the cause of your troubles. Do not allow any one to persuade you to wait until you outgrow adenoids; for while you may outgrow the adenoids themselves, the ugly shape of the mouth and lips, the narrow air passages in the nose, and the deafness that the adenoids cause will remain through life. Besides, you can no more get fresh air through a closed nose than through a closed window, and it is almost as hard to grow into a strong, healthy man or woman while you are struggling for air as it would be to do so without sufficient food.

Questions: 1. How does mouth breathing change the shape of the mouth? 2. What are the worst effects of mouth breathing? 3. To what is mouth breathing usually due? 4. What are adenoids and where do they grow? 5. What are some of the results of adenoids? 6. Where are the tonsils? 7. What are some of the results of enlarged tonsils? 8. Why should adenoids or enlarged tonsils be removed as soon as they are found? 9. Is it reasonable to wait to outgrow such troubles?

Suggestions and topics for development: Watch pupils for symptoms of adenoids and enlarged tonsils. Insist that the pupils be provided with handkerchiefs; for the habit of mouth breathing may be started by allowing the nostrils to become blocked with

mucus.

SUPPOSE that in a great city all the wagons that deliver groceries and milk, and all the carts that haul away rubbish and garbage, should stop running. The grocery stores might have abundant supplies of food, but the food could not be taken to those who needed it, and there would be suffering and starvation throughout the city. The garbage cans would become filled to overflowing, and so much waste