Page 36 - My FlipBook

36 FIRST PERIOD—ANTIOUITT

"It sometimes occurs, after recovery from illness, that convalescents,
in order to acquire strength, drink too great a quantity of wine; and
that this after a certain tmie produces a beginning of inflammation of
the stomach. In such cases the teeth often fall out, the breath becomes
fetid, and if the patient eats hot food, the empty alveoli as well as the
cheeks are painful."
Various internal medicaments and dentifrice powders are prescribed for
combating this morbid condition. One of these latter includes a great
number of ingredients in its composition ; among others, the bones of mice.
Mention is also made of certain remedies, to which recourse may be
had at times, for allaying violent dental pains, of whatsoever kind, or
whatever be the cause that occasions them.
One of these remedies is composed of different substances (among
them, garlic and saltpetre), to be pulverized and made into pills. If
the pain be on the left side, one introduces one of the pills into the right
ear, and vice versa.
The formula is also given for a very complicated medicated powder,
to be snuffed up in the left nostril if the person suffering from tooth-
ache be a man; in the right if a woman.
Another powder is to be smelt with the right nostril or with the left,
corresponding to the side on which the pain is located.
Abscesses and fistulae of the gums are spoken of as follows:
" It sometimes occurs that an abscess forms in some one point of
the gum ; this communicates great pain to the tooth near it ; the abscess
is white, with discharge of purulent matter." The treatment consists
in the use of different medicated powders, to be rubbed on the affected
part. Two of the powders contain musk, besides several other ingredi-
ents. A lotion is also prescribed.
In the next chapter the following affections are described:
1. Ta-heou. Gums are red, soft, and swollen, and a fetid and
purulent matter exudes from them ; the teeth are not painful ; if the
gums are lanced, blood of a pale red color flows from them in abun-
dance. This malady is to be treated with various internal medicines
and sometimes with scarification.
2. ]a-suen. Gums swollen; little b\ little they are corroded and
destroyed by ulceration, which leaves the roots of the teeth bared; the
patient has an aversion for hot food; continued pain in the teeth;
discharge of purulent and fetid mucus; by the slightest exposure to
cold the pain becomes very violent. This affection is to be combated
with internal remedies and local treatment (frictions with medicated
powders; application of an ointment of very complicated preparation).
^. Tchiini-y(i-kan. The gums are painful for a few days; appari-
tion of the root of the tooth; absence of ulceration. Children of five