The principles and practice of dentistry : including anatomy, physiology, pathology, therapeutics, dental surgery and mechanism / By Chapin A. Harris.

  • Harris, Chapin A. (Chapin Aaron), 1806-1860.
Date:
1881
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles and practice of dentistry : including anatomy, physiology, pathology, therapeutics, dental surgery and mechanism / By Chapin A. Harris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    is seldom of long duration. When their effects subside, the pain usu- ally returns with increased severity. When the pain arises from chronic inflammation and irritation, produced by external agents on an ex- posed portion of the lining membrane, such applications may often be employed with great advantage; and among those which have been used for this purpose are creosote, the oil of cloves, cinnamon, etc., laudanum, spirits of camphor, tannin, ether, and chloroform. But of all the remedies prescribed by the author, he has found none more use- ful in allaying the pain than the following: Sulphuric aether, . . ^i. Sulphuric aether, , . §i. Powdered camphor, . gij. Creosote, . . . gss. Powdered alum, . . ^ij. Ext. of nutgalls, . . gi. Sulphate of morphia, . grs. ij. Powdered caniph., . . t^ss. The alum should be very finely powdered, and all the ingredients well mixed before use. After removing all foreign matter and carefully drying the cavity of the tooth, a small bit of cotton or lint dipped in either of the above mixtures may be applied, and renewed several times a day, if necessary. The relief obtained is, in the majority of cases, almost instantaneous; but, as the effect is only temporary, the pain is apt to recur. The author has sometimes used a thick solution of gutta-percha in chloroform. The application of a drop or two of this to the ex- posed pulp is usually followed by the immediate cessation of pain, and as the chloroform evaporates, a thin layer of gutta-percha re- mains, and serves for a time as a sort of protection to the pulp. But the only way in which permanent exemption from pain can be procured is by the extraction of the tooth or the destruction of the pulp; it often becomes necessary to have recourse to the latter, as there are many cases .in which the patient cannot be prevailed upon to submit to the former, and as there are others in which the retention of the organ is called for by some peculiar necessity. This may be effected either by immediate extirpation with a small, sharp-pointed elastic stilet or probe, by the actual cautery, arsenious acid,* cobalt, or chloride of zinc. Immediate extirpation, arsenic, or cobalt are the means usually employed for the purpose ; but we have already de- scribed the manner in which the destruction of the pulp is effected by each of these. * The employment of arsenious acid for the destruction of an exposed dental pulp, and the relief of the pain arising therefrom, originated with the late Dr. Spooner, of Montreal; and in 1835 it was recommended to the profession by his brother, Dr. S. Spooner, of New York, in an excellent popular treatise upon the teeth.