Principles of dental surgery : exhibiting a new method of treating the diseases of the teeth and gums, especially calculated to promote their health and beauty : accompanied by a general view of the present state of dental surgery, with occasional references to the more prevalent abuses of the art : in two parts / by Leonard Koeckel.

  • Koecker, Leonard, 1785-1850.
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Principles of dental surgery : exhibiting a new method of treating the diseases of the teeth and gums, especially calculated to promote their health and beauty : accompanied by a general view of the present state of dental surgery, with occasional references to the more prevalent abuses of the art : in two parts / by Leonard Koeckel. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    For the honour of human nature, I would hope, that when this is done by any member of my profession, it is done out of ignorance. For to suppose that the operator was fully sensible of the conse- quences, the great suffering and inevitable destruction to the teeth, and to the general health of the patient, were to suppose him something worse than a deliberate destroyer of his species by secret violence Yet so very general are examples of this kind, that I do not scruple to say, according to my own belief, founded as it is on much observation, that by far the greater part of the teeth of persons, in that class of society who most frequently consult the dentist, are rather injured than benefitted by his ser- vices ; and that the greatest part of the maladies of the teeth, and those which are the most difficult to cure, are the result of such injudicious proceedings. It is in consequence of such treatment, that the most effectual remedial operations, however skilfully performed, are so frequently rendered of little or no avail, or even worse than useless. Thus it often happens, that teeth, which have been filed, or those from which a decayed part has been cut away without proper attention to the causes of their diseases, as also such as have been improperly stopped, either decay again, or are lost in consequence of inflammation in their nerves, periosteum, or other surrounding parts; the eventual destruction being justly imputable to the untimely and injudicious employ of operative treatment. But these mischievous effects are most conspicuous in the cases of artificial teeth inserted, as I have already mentioned, unsea- sonably. They are so fatal, and the fact is so universally known, although the causes may not be so generally understood, that it might be considered a thing of course, when the patient has begun the use of artificial teeth, that he must continue it; adding one tooth after another until he has lost all his natural teeth. Thus the introduction of a single artificial tooth is frequently the pre- cursor of the loss of a whole set when inserted in this destructive way. If such are the consequences of these operations, when skilfully performed, what must be expected to be the results of bungling operators in the same circumstances? The particular modes in which the several operations of this art are performed at present, and the principles on which their performance is founded, if, indeed, it might be said that any such principles have been established, are, unhappily, extremely vague and imperfect. It is a peculiar character of almost all the operations of this art, but especially of those on the teeth themselves, to be not cal- culated to admit, even of mediocrity in their performance. The physiological fact should not be lost sight of, that the same