Page 34 - My FlipBook

CHAPTER III.

DENTISTRY AMONG THE CHINESE.

For above 4000 years science and religion among the Chinese, as
well as their customs, have remained quite unchanged. The inhabitants
of the Celestial Empire can vaunt a most ancient civilization; which is,
however, altogether stationary; neither has their medicine made any
progress, and its actual state represents with sufficient exactness what
it was in primitive ages.
In Europe, various works have been written about the medicine of the
Chinese, one of the best being that of Dabry,^ taken from the most
celebrated medical books of China, ^ and which may be considered as
a compendium of the medical science of this people.
In this work we find two chapters relating to our specialty: the first
of these (p. 286) speaks of toothache, the second (p. 292) treats of all the
other dental and gingival diseases.
The Chinese call the toothache ya-tong, and distinguish a great many
varieties of the malady, that is:
1. Fong-je-to}ig. This kind of toothache is caused by sudden cold,
and has the following characteristic symptoms: Red and swollen gums,
which after a little time discharge purulent and fetid mucus ; abundant
salivation; acute pain; swelling of the cheek. It is to be cured with
draughts, mouth washes, and various kinds of frictions.
We Consider it useless to give the particulars of the various receipts,
because Dabry hardly ever translates the names of the drugs of which
they are compounded. These formuL-e are therefore incomprehensible
by most people.
2. Fong-lan-tong. This kind of toothache is also caused by cold. The
pain is very great, but the gums are neither red nor swollen.
3. Te-toug. Is also produced by chill. The gums are red and swollen;
there is no discharge of mucus; great pain, which is aggravated by cold
licjuids. If the malady lasts for some time, the gums end by becoming
black, and the teeth are loosened; the pain becomes more intense in
spitting. In this stage of the malady the sufferer no longer fears cold
drinks, but rather desires them, to soothe the pain. The cure varies
' La medtcine chcz Ics Chinois, par Ic Capitainc P. P. Dabry, Consul de France en Chine,
Membre de la Societe Asiatifjue de Paris, 1863.
^ One of these books, Nuei-King, is said to have been written twenty-seven centuries
before the Christian era, by the Emperor Houang-ty, the founder of Chinese medicine.