Hufeland's Art of prolonging life / edited by Erasmus Wilson.

  • Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hufeland's Art of prolonging life / edited by Erasmus Wilson. 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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    cular after each meal. This will remove any remains of food adhering to them, which commonly fix themselves between the teeth, and lay the first ground for decay. Those who observe these rules will seldom have occasion for tooth-powder. But if the teeth have a tendency, as is the case naturally in some men, to become foul, or to acquire what is called tartar, I recommend the following harmless | prescription :—Take half an ounce of red sandal-wood, with ^ a quarter of an ounce of China-root {smilax aspera Chinensis); S reduce them to a fine powder, and sift it through a hair- l| sieve.* Then add to it six drops of the oil of cloves, and the fl same quantity of bergamot oil, and rub the teeth with it in 1 the morning. M 3rd. Beware of studying, reading, or straining the head fl while at table. That period must certainly be consecrated to fl the stomach. It is the time of its government, and the mind ■ must no further interfere with it than may be necessary to I assist its operations. Laughter is one of the greatest helps S to digestion with which I am acquainted; and the custom, I prevalent among our forefathers, of exciting it at table by | jesters and buffoons, was founded on true medical principles. | In a word, endeavour' to have cheerful and merry compa- | nions at your meals. What nourishment one receives amidst f. •> tiguous to another, and as in all probability both teeth are sufferers f from the pressure, both are liable to decay ; because one precedes i the other in this action, it has been inferred that the decayed tooth jS has contaminated its fellow, but this is not the fact. Then as to the advice. When a tooth is decayed, the patient should seek the dentist, who will probably clear out the dead part, and stop the '] cavity with gold. When this operation is well and judiciously per- formed, the tooth will last as long as if it were perfectly sound. Hence, the chief art of the dentist of the present day is to save the teeth and not waste them, as was the case when our author flourished.—Editor. * This tooth-powder, composed of materials no longer in use, is very inferior to the tooth-powders of the present day ; the best of which are those made either of simple precipiiaiecl chalk : of preci- pitated chalk with one-eighth part of orris-root ; or of precipitated chalk with one-eighth part of camphor. Camphor has of late been accused of doing injury to the teeth, by rendering them brittle ; whether such be really the case lam unable to decide.—Editor.