Page 204 - My FlipBook

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" Some time ago, I was applied to by a
kind and observes :
gentleman, who complained of an acute pain arising from one
of the molares of the under jaw : as I could discover no ap-
pearance of caries in it, I advised the loss of blood from the
gums, with a view to remove the inflammation in the socket,
or other parts connected with the tooth.
This treatment was by no means effectual, for the pain
continued with scarcely any intermission: the gentleman
therefore determined to have the tooth extracted. In attempt-
ing this operation, the tooth broke off at the neck, and com-
pletely exposed the internal cavity. Fortunately, this accident
proved to be satisfactory, as it afforded an opportunity of as-
certaining the cause of the pain. The membrane lining the
cavity of the tooth had become so highly inflamed, that it had
proceeded to suppuration, and the cavity of the tooth was
filled with pus. Immediately after the operation, the gentle-
man was perfectly relieved, and had no return of pain. In a
similar case, instead of extracting the tooth, I should recom-
mend the drilling a hole at the neck of the tooth, into the
cavity, in order to make an opening by which the matter
might escape."*
Some persons have doubted whether matter could form in
the internal part of a tooth, and at the same time the tooth,
in all other respects, sound. That matter may be formed in
the internal part of a tooth there cannot be a doubt. I was
lately informed by a highly respectable physician, and now
assistant surgeon in the U. S. Navy, that he had a case of
the kind. A person called upon him to have a tooth ex-
tracted which was in extreme pain. He extracted the tooth
and at once relieved his patient. The tooth was not in the

Fox,Part II, page 12. [ Note.