Notes on dental practice / by Henry C. Quinby.

  • Quinby, Henry C.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on dental practice / by Henry C. Quinby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and will so poison the surrounding tissues that inflammation, and perhaps abscess, will result. This is what I have called secondary toothache, and it is what the sufferer never mistakes for anything but toothache, and can always localise without any hesitation, because the pain is directly intensified by pressure on the tooth, so that, in these cases, the patient’s judgment is of great use in helping the dentist to decide where his skill is needed to relieve pain. The treatment of this form of toothache may have been sufficiently indicated in the previous pages, but it deserves special and definite men- tion. It is simply the free opening of the pulp cavity, the removal of all putrescent matter, for which purpose fine barbed instruments, that will reach well into the roots, will be required; syringing with warm water, to which a five per cent, proportion of carbolic acid may be added; and, when it can be done without risk to the adjacent parts, a drop of the acid of full officinal strength may be left in the tooth. But this is only possible in lower teeth, because there must not be any stopping inserted, not even of cotton, at this stage of the treatment, to prevent the free escape of gases or pus through the pulp canals. The relief from pain will be almost instantaneous;* a certain amount of soreness * This well-known fact seems rather inconsis- tent with the theory that bacteria, originating in the mouth, are the primary cause of putrescence of the tooth pulp, and consequent local poisoning, which we treat as periostitis and alveolar abscess. B2
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