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322 THIRD PERIOD-MODERN TIMES

himself averse to the practice of subluxation as a means of cure for tooth-
ache, a method which, first recommended by the Arab physician Avicenna,
and later, in the sixteenth century, by Peter Foreest, had fallen into
oblivion for a long time, and was again brought into credit by two cele-
brated French dentists, Mouton and Bourdet, the latter of whom relates
having had recourse to it successfully in not less than six hundred
cases.
Notwithstanding the high authority of this illustrious dentist, Biicking
does not consider this method of cure advisable, adducing, however,
in support of his opinion, arguments of no great value, viz., that teeth
after subluxation continue painful for a certain time, and that they always
remain in an oblique position. The method in question, which has the
effect of breaking the dental nerve, is, in our opinion, practically equivalent
to a replantation, or is, in point of fact, a replantation, when the luxation
of the tooth is complete. The arguments that Bucking brings forward
against it are futile; the first objection, for the most part, does not subsist,
and, in any case, the persistence of pain for a short time would be of small
importance compared with the great advantage of preserving the tooth; as
to the second, it is to be understood of itself that subluxation performed
by means of the pelican (the instrument then used for the operation)
would cause the tooth to assume an oblique position; but even supposing
it did not straighten up of itself, there could not have been any difficulty
for the good dentists of that period in forcing the tooth again into normal
position and in maintaining it there. The weak side of the operation
consisted rather in the fact of its being probably carried out without due
consideration of the dangers resulting from the possible alterations of the
dental pulp.
At the time of which we are writing many believed that the enamel of
the teeth could be regenerated altogether or in part, and that, therefore,
it w^as of no great consequence that it should be worn away by the use of
the file or of abrasive dentifrice powders. Thus, for example, the renowned
surgeon Theden expressly recommended such powders, as the best adapted
for cleaning the teeth and for freeing them from tartar.^
Van Wy,- the Dutch surgeon, in 1784, related two cases of regeneration
of the maxillary bones; other cases of the same kind were related some
years later by Percy and Boulet.^
Chopart and Desault recommended, in cases of difficult dentition,
the excision of the gum in correspondence with the teeth that are to come
out, rather than simple incisions.'*

' fheden, Neue Bcmerkungen unci Erfahrungen, Berlin, 1782, part second, p. 254.
^
J. van Wy, Heclkundige Mengel stofFen, Amsterdam, 1784.
' Journal de Medecine, 1791, tomes 86, 87. * Sprengel, p. 356 to 357.