Page 77 - An essay on the diseasesof the jaws, and their treatment

DISEASES OF THE JAWS. 55 Bart., and B. Travers, Esq., page 192, the opinion of Sir Astley so entirely corresponds with my own, that I cannot resist the gra- tification of making use of his own words. " As to the treatment of this disease," he observes, " it consists in first seeking the source of irritation, and removing it when dis- covered, in order to prevent the further progress of the disease; and indeed, it may be probable, that the removal of the source of irri- tation might sometimes, even when the disease has advanced to a considerable extent, succeed in producing a cure, and therefore it is desirable to wait the event before any further operation be un- dertaken. " Should this, however, prove insufficient, it will be necessary that the external shell of the bone be removed by means of a saw, and that the cartilage which it contains be dislodged by an ele- vator. If the integuments be carefully preserved, Httle deformity follows; and thue, by a simple operation, destruction, otherwise inevitable, is prevented." Indeed, I confidently believe,* that by the complete and judi- cious removal of all the local causes which first gave rise to the malady, and which have produced and kept up the formation and increase not only of morbid tumefactions, such as cedematous and sarcomatous swellings, but even of spongy exostoses, or osteo-sarcomatous diseases, and by the healthy action thereby ex- cited, nature will not unfrequently effect their gradual removal either by absorption or sloughing ; should it, however, not be equal to this task without assistance, it will at least produce such a concentration and demarkation of the secondary disease, as to afford a greater facility for the removal of any excrescence or tumour, by such other surgical means as the case may require. Even if the whole of the inferior jaw be Involved in osteo- sarcoma, I am convinced that, although it be gradual and slow, a more certain restoration will be effected by the plan above de- scribed, than by amputating the diseased jaw, Independently of the greater danger and pain, and the loss of the important parts that cannot fall to be sustained under the latter operation.* • Experience of the most fatal kind has abundantly sho^vn, that the truly malignant forms of the diseases of the jaw-bonQs cannot be successfully extirpated