On some severe forms of disease arising from the retention of decayed teeth / by J.C. Clendon.

  • Clendon, J. Chitty (John Chitty), 1809-1870
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On some severe forms of disease arising from the retention of decayed teeth / by J.C. Clendon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the medical man is summoned, and the tooth extracted. The pain immediately subsides; in a few hours the effused serum is absorbed; the surrounding parts recover their natural appearance; and there the mischief, and the symptoms of the malady, which I designate acute or true toothache, end together. But let me not be misunderstood. There are, of course, exceptions: for instance, when, from the dense structure of the ivoiy, decay is very slow; or when the cementum (the third substance of the tooth) is deposited in the same ratio as the decay progresses, the tooth continuing firm in the socket, and the gum healthy. These are exceptional cases. I speak of the rule; and I repeat that, when once a tooth has been the subject of acute inflammation, it is virtually doomed. Yet I am frequently reminded, perhaps half re- proachfully, that there are dentists who “ never extract teeth; they can stop anything ! ” And I believe it; for I am often called upon to extract a tooth that has been stopped when in a state of active inflammation. Such practice cannot be in accordance with any principles of science, not even (as I must do my Odontological friends the justice to believe) with “ the principles of surgery gathered from a local knowledge of physiology and pathology it must proceed from sheer ignorance, or something worse; for, unfortunately, in dental practice, it is often far more lucrative to suppress the truth than honestly to declare it. But let us take another view of the case. It may be that the patient endures and wears out the pain; the remedies are successful, without extraction being had recourse to ; and he congratulates himself on his escape without the loss of a tooth. The satisfaction is, however, short-lived ; the tooth continues tender in mastication, and is used with the greatest caution, or not used at all; the patient avoids it, and eats on the opposite side of the jaw, or on the front teeth ; and thus, from the presence of this tender and diseased tooth, and their own consequent want of use, the neighbouring teeth and gums suffer. This is quite evident on looking into the mouth, the foul condition of the non-used teeth plainly showing on which side mastication is carried on. Again, the tooth so retained may be quiet for weeks or months; and then, on the accession of the least cold or derangement of the circulation, all the symptoms I have described will recur with nearly the same degree of violence, and this will be repeated again and again until the condition of the tooth is
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