Page 11 - TheOperatorfortheTeeth

meanders and recesses of the brain, cannot clear it from its impurities, and that notwithstanding all the contrivances of nature, it is deposited into the ventricles of the brain, (tho’ under another form yet) still impregnated with its ill qualities, such sort of animal spirits, being compounded of heterogeneous parts, if not timely discharged of their malignant and offensive corpuscles, (through the usual Emunctories) will either by their fermentation in the Ventricles of the brain cause a head-ache; or by the oppilation of its pores, cause a giddiness, or else passing out of the brain into the nerves, will by their irregular motion and preternatural extension of the coats of the nerves, and other tunicles, breed a disturbance in all the parts they go to: but more particularly in the teeth in which they always excite very great pains. For discharging the peccant humour, between the membrane that invests the inside of the tooth, and that that encloses its vessels, it occasions a perpetual torment in them; till it be expelled from thence by transpiration. This second type of tooth-ache may be caused by sternutation: and the application of aperitive remedies, to open the pores of the affected tooth. These are the two general causes of the tooth-ache, and all the rest proceeding from them, some few excepted. The looseness of the teeth comes most commonly from the decay of the gums, which are subject to many infirmities, proceeding for the most part from those things that occasion the tooth-ache, and putrefaction of the teeth; for sometimes there will be such an affluence of blood from the teeth into the gums, that their veins being not able to contain it, are thereupon broken; shedding the blood between the gums and the teeth: where gathering together it corrupts, rotting away all the flesh from about the teeth: otherwhiles the excrementitious humour, that exudates out of the teeth, falling upon the gums, eats them away by degrees etc. But above all other things the scales, and foulness of the teeth are very prejudicial to them. All which infirmities to avoid, you have but to keep your teeth and gums neat and clean from any foulness whatsoever; as has been already said in the foregoing sections: preventing any preternatural collection of blood, or any other humours within the gums, But if the mischief is already done, that is if your teeth be really loose,; and your gums wasted, you must have recourse for their recovery to one well verified in those things: For to prescribe you here any form of remedies, would be to no purpose, since the same thing cannot be good in all cases, and that without the perfect knowledge of the cause of the disease, and a right method in applying suitable medicaments, (which commonly is understood only by practitioners in those concerns) it is impossible ever to perform the cure of any distemper. I might have told you at the beginning of this section, where I spoke of the Vessels of the teeth, that their artery comes from the Carotids, the vein from the Jugular, and the Sinew from the fifth pair of nerves: but if you are skilled in anatomy, you know it better than I, and if not, my telling of it to you would signify nothing at all, unless I should in the [10]