“For the higher glory of our Brazil:” infant oral health education and care, 1912-1940

Abstract Educational actions and campaigns in the area of dentistry geared towards children are addressed, focusing on the introduction of dental cabinets, or offices, at public schools and the creation of “good teeth” competitions to spread modern precepts of hygiene. Dentists were key agents in the spread of “modern dental science” at schools and different institutions, taking part in educational activities and also in actions and struggles for public policies that recognized the issues of oral health. The article is based on extensive research of a variety of documental sources and, through dialogues with the new cultural history, questions the ways oral health was prescribed in the early decades of the twentieth century.

【摘要】本研究针对面向儿童的牙科教育活动与宣传项目展开探讨，重点关注在公立学校设置牙科诊室（或牙科诊疗室）、举办“健齿”竞赛以传播现代口腔卫生准则的实践。牙医是在学校与各类机构中推广“现代牙科科学”的核心主体，他们不仅参与各类教育活动，还投身于推动认可口腔健康议题的公共政策的制定与实践工作。本文依托对多种文献档案资源的广泛调研，并结合新文化史学的研究视角，对20世纪早期口腔健康规范的建构路径展开批判性审视。