The youth's dentist, or, The way to have sound and beautiful teeth : designed for the more intelligent orders of parents and guardians, and containing some useful hints to the faculty / by J.R. Duval ; translated and supplied with notes by J. Atkinson.

  • Duval, J.-R. (Jacques-Réné), 1758-1854.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The youth's dentist, or, The way to have sound and beautiful teeth : designed for the more intelligent orders of parents and guardians, and containing some useful hints to the faculty / by J.R. Duval ; translated and supplied with notes by J. Atkinson. 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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    direful consequences ; holding with their teeth the heaviest burdens ; I have also shown in my dissertation on the accidents arising from the extraction of the teeth, some fatal events which I suppose resulted partly from this organization.* We cannot be surprised that men who have not studied the laws of the animal economy, should have regarded the teeth as inorganic bodies, without life, and, consequently, capable of resisting ihe most destructive causes ; from this circumstance arose no doubt the ingenious fable, which represents Cadmus as giving birth to men, by sowing the teeth of the dragon which he had slain. The sensibility of the teeth, however, ought never to have permitted a doubt of their being organized ; whether they be composed of a peculiar bony substance, as may be observed by inspecting their internal parts and root, or whether the crown is enveloped in a transparent covering, as if vitrified, called enamel, the hardness of which is such, that it resists the action of fire, more than the osseous substance which it covers, and from which one might even draw sparks, either by striking it with steel, or filing it in the dark. The growth of the teeth and their piercing the gums, could not take place without this vitality, which is peculiar to them, and which continues during life ; for even when the alveolus or socket is destroyed, they are still attached to the gums by certain fibres. This vitality, which is in connection with that of the whole frame, is not confined solely to that soft and very sensible follicle contained in the cavity of the teeth which extends from the centre of the crown, to the extremity of the fangs; the hard parts also par- take of it though in a much less degree : and in both cases it is supplied by the arteries, veins and nerves; these vessels being distributed over all the face, and communicating with each other, keep up a constant and admirable sympathy. * It is rather surprising that some persons should be found so ignorant of their own interest, as to trust the extraction of their teeth to the most ignorant mechanics. I have in my possession, three of the grinders with a large piece of alveolus, which were extracted instead of one, (by a blacksmith,) from a poor woman who lives in Grey's Walk; a most violent hemorrhage was the consequence, and she was confined to her bed for several days.