Page 298 - My FlipBook

276 THIRD PERIOD-MODERN TIMES

impossible and caused the cheek to stand out in such a wa) as to give
the appearance of a tumor/
In the following chapter" the author enumerates the various dental
operations: "Cleaning the teeth, separating them, shortening them,
removing the caries, cauterizing, stopping, straightening crooked teeth,
steadying loose teeth, trepanning, simple drawing of teeth, replacing them
in their own alveoli, or transplanting them to another mouth, and finally
substituting artificial teeth for those wanting." He then adds: "All
these operations require in him who carries them out a light, secure, and
skilful hand and a perfect theoretic knowledge, by which he may decide
on the opportuneness of performing them, of deferring them, or of
abandoning them altogether. In fact, one may know perfectly well
how to carry out an operation and nevertheless undertake it in a case in
which it is not at all proper to operate. Into such an error no one can
fall save through sheer ignorance of the cause of the disease or of the right
means of curing it. From this it must be concluded that the knowledge
required in order to be a good dentist is not so limited as some imagine,
and that the imprudence and the danger of placing one's self in ignorant
hands is as great as the temerity of those who undertake to exercise so
delicate a profession without the knowledge of even its first elements."
Before speaking in detail of all the above operations, the author dedi-
cates a lengthy chapter^ to describing with the greatest minuteness the
position to be given in general, as well as in special cases, to the head and
body of the patient, and the manner in which the dentist should place
himself with regard to the former, so as to be able to make a proper use of
each of his hands. As a rule, Fauchard made the patient seat himself
in a convenient arm-chair; in exceptional cases he placed him on a sofa,
or on a bed. He draws this subject to a close with the following words:
"It is, indeed, surprising that the greater part of those who practise
tooth drawing should ordinarily seat the patient on the ground, this
being both indecent and not very clean. This position is not only un-
comfortable, but causes sometimes a sense of fear, especially in pregnant
women, to whom it may, besides, prove very harmful. But it is still
more surprising that certain authors should even nowadays affirm this
to be the most convenient position, while it is instead one to be entirely
rejected."
In speaking of extraction of the teeth, ^ Fauchard begins by saying that
the milk teeth, although destined to be shed, should never be extracted,
except in cases of absolute necessity, as, for instance, when being decayed,
they give rise to intolerable pain. The alveoli of the infantile jaw are

' Page 407. - Chap, xii, p. 183.
''Chap, xiii, p. 185. ^ Chap, xiv, p. 194.