Page 20 - My FlipBook

12 CAUSES AND RELIEF OF DENTAL PAIN.

water and held in the mouth, often gives greal relief and
may shorten the course of the affection.
In severe cases of alveolar abscess extraction of the

tooth is the only course open to the medical practitioner,
and the sooner it is done the better for the patient ; the
old idea that it is necessary to wait till the inflammation
has subsided is often disastrous to the patient, as it may
lead to the formation of an external opening in the cheek

and permanent scarring of the face.
An abscess arising from a lower wisdom tooth usually
necessitates its extraction, this is often a matter of great
difficulty, and can only be accomplished by using the

elevator; it sometimes happens that it is impossible to
reach the wisdom tooth, in which case it may be necessary
to remove the second lower molar before dealing with
the offending wisdom tooth.

Local anesthesia in the extraction of teeth.—Though
still to some extent on its trial, the hypodermic injection
of certain anaesthetic solutions is in a considerable

number of cases successful in enabling the extraction of
teeth to be performed painlessly. At the same time it
is essential for the operator to know exactly what he is
injecting and the exact amount and purity of the active

ingredient contained in his injection.
Nothing can be more dangerous than the injection of
the much advertised proprietary local anaesthetics, most
of which contain an indefinite amount of cocaine, and
which within the writer's knowledge have over and over

again produced serious results.
Cocaine is certainly to be avoided in all these prepara-
tions.
There are no absolutely reliable and satisfactory pre-

parations for the purpose, though novocaine (which is a
white soluble powder of definite chemical composition)