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164 ANTISEPSIS IN DENTISTRY.

sliould be well washed with an antiseptic solution. After the extraction
the socket should be syringed with sterilized water, followed by
some powerful disinfectant. In view of the serious results probable in
this ojjcration there is no longer any excuse for injuries resulting from
infection, and a suit for malpractice could be well sustained against an
individual who had failed to observe the well-understood methods of
antisepsis, while no intelligent practitioner could conscientiously appear
on behalf of the defendant.

External Infection.
The danger to the operator from external infection from instruments
is a constant menace ; the constant use of these with general freedom
from serious results, however, leads to a degree of carelessness not war-
ranted by the ever-present danger from wounds. There is more real
danger to the operator from this source than to the patient. All the
excavators, drills, and broaches are hourly in contact with infectious
matter, and it requires but a slight wound to produce any of the possi-
bilities of blood-poisoning. The operator should be on constant guard
in this respect, upon the slightest abrasion immediately taking measures
to destroy all possibility of infection from germs that may have been
introduced into the wound. This should at once be carefully washed
and an escharotic employed, burning the parts. For this purpose zinc
chlorid or carbolic acid is ])robably the best agent to use, followed by
an antiseptic. The latter should be frequently renewed. Experience
has demonstrated the value of turpentine in the various mechanical
shops where this agent has been for many years in common use for
wounds from rusted iron, the possibility of trismns resulting from such
injuries being well understood. The writer has used this agent, after
burning the wound, almost to the exclusion of other antiseptics.
An illustration of the ever-present danger from wounds occurred
to a friend of the writer's, one of the many young women who have
graduated in dentistry in this country. She accidentally wounded her
hand by a drill, and regarded it as of no moment. The result Avas severe
blood-poisoning that for two years kept her hovering between life and
death. After suffering from severe metastatic abscesses, she was finally
restored to partial health, but with her constitution shattered and her
practice ruined for the time being.

Implantation and Transplantation.
Previous to the recognition of the importance of antisepsis, the
dentists of that period had a very natural objection to reimplanting
teeth ; the practice of transplantation was then practically an unknown
operation. The danger of the operation was appreciated, but the reason.