Oral sepsis in its relationship to systemic disease / by William W. Duke.

  • Duke, William W. (William Waddell), 1882 or 1883-1945?
Date:
[1918]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Oral sepsis in its relationship to systemic disease / by William W. Duke. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    82/132 page 78
    by other agents. Conversely, abuses of any sort would appear of more serious moment in individuals having’ chronic infections than in individuals who are free from them. The importance of oral sepsis as a source of metastatic infection is not small. It is the most common of the chronic infections, therefore one of the more important. it is a less apparent source of disease than the tonsils. The difference is, however, probably more apparent than real. Systemic infection attributable to oral sepsis is usually chronic and insidious in onset. The effects are so in- sidious that the resulting pathologic changes are often extreme in grade before they are noticed clinically. For this reason the treatment of oral sepsis does not always give the relief that might be hoped for. The inflammatory process in a given lesion, arthritis, for example, often continues long after the primary focus of infection is removed. This may be due in part to the fact that the organisms have produced local pathologic changes in the tissues which are favorable to their growth and in part to the fact suggested by Welch that organisms in their struggle for existence in the tissues of an indi- vidual may acquire the faculty of protecting themselves against his defensive mechanism. Either factor might render difficult or impossible their thorough and com- plete eradication from the tissues.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3