Page 355 - My FlipBook

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTLRV 331

situated below it, ot the various modes in wliicli the diseases ot the annum
are produced, ot their s\"mpt()ms ami treatment. He passes in re\ie\v
the various operative methods, and Hnds that in general the Cowper-
Drake is the one to be preferred to all the others. He saws that to open
the sinus the simple extraction ot a molar sufHces in the greater number
of cases, the trepanning of the alveolus not being generalh" necessarw
Arneman, in 1766, published at Gcittingen a s\ nopsis of surgical
J.
instruments' that deserves mention in so far that the dental instruments of
that tmie as well as those ot earlier jxriods are therein taken into account
with sufficient exactness.
A. F. Hecker attributed the accidents of difficult dentition to a special
alteration ot the saliva caused bv the irritation deriving from the erupting
teeth. In these cases the sali^•a is supposed b\ him to ac(|uire a high
degree ot acridness and to become almost similar to the poison of rabies.
Departing trom this theor\', the author declares it to be necessary to miti-
gate the irritation produced on the gums and other parts of the mouth
by the altered condition of the saliva, as well as to modif\' the quality of
the saliva itself and to promote the elimination of the same from the body
by emetics and aperients. According to him, liquid carbonate of potash
administered in drops, together with svrup ot popp\' heads, manna, etc.,
is a most usetul remed\", having specially for its effect to diminish the
acridness of the saliva.
Besides this remedy, the author extols the use of blisters behind the
ears, as also of tepid baths, which calm pain and spasms, favor the excre-
tions, and procure repose and sleep. He rejects the incision of the
gums as altogether useless, and is most opposed to the use of opium,
w^hich he states renders children liable to apoplexy.
And here we will mention, rather by way of curiosit\' than for an\-
real historical interest which they possess, two pamphlets on oJotititis,
published respectively in 1791 and 1794 by Ploucquet and Kappis, who
maintained that not onh- the dental pulp, but all the parts that form the
tooth are susceptible ot inflammation." In Kappis' pamphlet we find the
following ideas developed, upon which we do not think necessary to com-
ment. The inflammatory process consists essentialh in the increased flow
of humors to a given part and in a more or less intense reaction of the
vital force. Both of these things may take place in the teeth. These are
liable to swell, that is, to undergo an increase of all their dimensions, in
proof of which assertion the author relates the case ot an individual,
who when attacked b\' a \iolent toothache had found the spaces between
his teeth so narrowed that it was no longer possible to make use ot his
' Uebersicht der Chirurgischen Instrumente.
- Ploucquet, Primae lineae odontitidis, sive inflammarionis ipsorum dentium, I ubingae,
1 791; Kappis, Primas lineae odontitidis, etc., Tubingae, 1794.