Page 26 - An essay on the diseasesof the jaws, and their treatment

; 4 AN ESSAY ON THE from some disordered state of the teeth, or from the local irritation produced by dead teeth or roots, or from disease and irregularity in the parts related to them. The treatment recommended by Mr. Fox, like that of Mr. Hunter, will always be inefficient unless the disease is in its inci- pient state, and the tooth, which he recommends to be extracted, tlie exclusive or principal exciting cause; in this case, that ope- ration, which is the most, and sometimes the only useful part of the whole treatment, may afford nature the necessary assistance to affect a cure of the malady, notwithstanding the counteractions produced by pernicious operations and remedies. These are, however, instances of rare occurrence. In a more advanced state the extraction of the tooth is merely palliative, and the parts remain predisposed to a dangerous relapse. Hence, the frequent recurrence of the disease after surgical treatment ; hence, the reluctance of surgeons and dentists to interfere in such cases and hence the general neglect of proper treatment in their early stages. At page 126 of the essay already referred to, Mr. Fox says, " When the matter has been discharged, the object must be to re- store the parts to their former condition ; with this view, a solu- tion of tincture of myrrh is to be frequently injected with a syringe through the opening." How far the morbid action of so formidable a disease can be changed to a healthy one, and parts so peculiarly constituted and aflected, restored to their original state, merely by the use of a syringe and a solution of tincture of myrrh ; and this without re- moving the more active, local, chemical, and mechanical exciting causes of this morbid action, may be readily conceived, without any further observation on my part. Indeed, not only all the cases related by Mr. Fox, which by a timely and judicious dental treatment might probably have been brought to a successful termination, but also the vague modes of treatment generally recommended by various writers, furnish proofs of the imperfect knowledge which at present exists with respect to them; nor can we fail to regret the inactive manner in