Page 312 - My FlipBook
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the same time mentioning to me that he had but little hope
of having his teeth and gums restored to health, as he had
been for some time under the care of one of the most res-
pectable surgeons in this city, with whom I had the pleasure
of a personal acquaintance, for the cure of his gums ; that,
although he had fulfilled his prescriptions, still they were of
no use to him, and that he had had his teeth examined and
operated upon by a dentist without any service. Upon ex-
amining his teeth, I found many of them were in a state of
decay, and that his gums, in consequence of the tartar depos-
ited around the teeth, and pressing upon and irritating the
gums, were in a state of suppuration, and that the alveolar
processes were much absorbed away—the front under inci-
sors were completely dead ; their sockets were nearly re-
moved by absorption, and the gums surrounding them were in
a complete state of suppuration, attended with a constant
discharge of matter. He naturally seemed to possess a good
constitution, but his general hea'th was, at this time, much
impaired, attended with obstinately dyspeptic symptoms. I
think he had imputed all his dyspeptic complaints to the dis-
ease of his gums. I succeeded by cleaning his teeth and
the use of the oak bark decoction to arrest the disease for
some time, but as he refused to have the dead teeth and
stumps of teeth extracted, as they always should be, I did
not succeed in making a perfect cure of the disease. I men-
tion this case to show how greatly dead teeth, and stumps,
and suppurating gums, do affect the healthy action of the
stomach, and also again to remind the reader that dead teeth
and stumps must be extracted, in order to cure a suppurating
state of the gums, and to remove consequent effects. For
another case of dyspepsia produced by diseased teeth and
gums, in consequence of not masticating the food in a proper
manner, and in consequence of decayed and ulcerative matter