Page 41 - Craventreatiseonpyorrh00crav

PYORRHCEA ALVEOLARIS. 31 of the mixture, and it will take up enough more cocaine to make fully 10 per cent., which it should be given. After the completion of the solution it should be of a clear amber color and a beautiful preparation, with a very agreeable odor. This solution of cocaine is absolutely stable for any length of time, and because of the addition of the essential oils there is scarcely any perceptible evaporation of the chloroform dur- ing use from the bottle. Aside from their therapeutical values the essential oils, by their combined odors, help to disguise the odor of chloroform, which is so familiar to many and al- ways alarming to some, to others intensely disagreeable. All water solutions of cocaine are extremely unstable, and arc expensive unless prepared in very small quantity at a time as needed. TO APPLY COCAINE. Referring again to the forcible douching of pyorrhoea " pockets " with water at 140° Fahrenheit, the last injection of hot water should be immediately followed by the cocaine solution, which should be introduced directly into the deep- est part of the "pocket" in barely sufficient quantity to flood / the pus cavity without overflow ; for this purpose one drop will be enough in almost any case. After each introduction of cocaine the case should be protected against saliva for two or three minutes, after which expectoration may be permitted quickly. The douching with hot water and following with the cocaine solution should be performed alternately three or four times before proceeding with the operation, the objectobject being to induce a cumulative effect of the obtunding d rug.