Page 68 - An essay on the diseasesof the jaws, and their treatment

46 AN ESSAY ON THE affected, by the adaptation of sucli means as are consistent "witli correct surgical principles. As a more distinct illustration of the above treatment, I beg to refer the reader to the cases 3, 4, and 5, in the sequel to this essay. CASE III. Captain M , of the East India Company, from Calcutta, laboured under a most distressing and complicated affection of the mouth, the effect of an nnparalleled abuse of mercury, which had been exhibited only eleven months previously. He came to England, on leave of absence from his regiment, to seek for surgical advice ; and having visited Mr. Lawrence, June 11th, 1826, soon after his arrival in London, that gentleman re- quested him to consult me immediately. The patient was a tall, well formed, handsome young man, about twenty-one years of age. According to his own statement, his health was originally excellent, and his constitution strong, and only one year previously he was in the possession of a com- plete set of teeth, which, with all their contiguous parts, were perfectly sound, regular, and beautiful. This was still evident, After what has been said, it must be suflSciently obyious, that the treatment laid down in this essay consists mainly in removing completely and thoroughly all the local sources of irritation, in whatever form they may exist, as a means of cure, and not as a preliminary to other operations, and the adoption of measures for maintaining the mouth free from tartar and other primary causes of the diseases of the teeth and sockets. — (See " Principles of Dental Surgery," Part iL, Chap. 3.) It is much to be regretted that it was found impracticable to give an account, which would be at all satisfactory, of the results of the various modes of treat- ment recorded in the collection of cases in the Appendix. In the cases operated on by excision, the reports are frequently not carried down beyond the day of operation, so that their sequel remains unknown. Had we, however, been in possession of a complete account of the results of the cases treated by excision, it is evident that a comparison of them with the cases treated otherwise, would appear far from impartial, as they consist principally of the worst cases— such as are not tmfrequently too far advanced for curative treatment, and have already been the subjects of unsuccessful measures, seldom or never recorded. But, indeed, no just comparison can be instituted between excision, and other means, such as dental treatment— ^the one necessarily involving incurability, and the other being essentially of a curative nature. Eecovery from the effects of the extirpa- tion of a part, though it terminate successfully, cannot be regarded as the cure of a disease. The operation of excision, by removing the whole of the parts affected, leaves to nature to accomplish simply the process of cicatrization; but dental treatment, in stimulating nature to overcome the disease, is truly of the nature of a cure. I