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CHAPTER IV.

ANTISEPSIS IN DENTISTRY.

By James Truman, D. D. S.

The importance of antisepsis in dental operations has not been
recognized as fully as the subject would seem to warrant. This has
been in part due to the fact that dentists have been accustomed to the
thought that cleanliness in the use of instruments would meet all the
requirements of practice. This idea has been enforced by a general im-
munity from unpleasant sequelae after operations, thus leading to a skep-
ticism in regard to the value of antiseptic measures in the oral cavity.
This immunity has been in part due to the fact that the fluids of the
mouth were supposed to have a direct influence in preventing in-
fection. This has never been proved through laboratory experiments,
but clinical observation and long experience have demonstrated that
injuries in the mouth ordinarily heal rapidly, even though these be made
by infected instruments. It seems unreasonable to suppose that a fluid
peculiarly subject to fermentation should have this eifect, and this has
led some to ascribe it to a vital influence. Miller ^ says of this : " It
is a very fortunate provision that the gums in a healthy state offer so
powerful a resistance to the invasion of the germs of most infectious dis-
eases. For this reason a wound in the gums may be followed by
scarcely any reaction ^vhatever, while a similar wound on the hand
with the same instrument may produce most disastrous results. It has
been attempted to account for this fact on the supposition that the
saliva has an antiseptic action, in evidence of which we are often re-
minded that dogs lick their wounds, and that these heal rapidly.
I doubt if there is anyone who would wish us to believe that
the dead saliva has even the slightest antiseptic properties, in consid-
eration of the fact that saliva, especially when it contains much organic
matter, readily putrefies. If the saliva possesses any such property, it
must be sought for in its living histological elements,— i. e., in the living
leucocytes or phagocytes." ^
' Dental Cosmos, July, 1891.
^ For an elaborate study of this problem see " Experimental Study of the Different
Modes of Protection of the Oral Cavity Against Pathogenic Bacteria," by Arthur C.
Hugenschmidt, M. D., Dental Cosmos, xxxviii., p. 797.
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