Page 317 - My FlipBook

CHLORIDE OF LIME. 315

masses, dry or but slightly moist. It is readily soluble in water,
and will absorb moisture when exposed to the air. It has a bit-
ter, caustic taste, and a slight odor of chlorine.
Medical Properties and Action.— Chloride of lime is a stimulant,
deodorizer, disinfectant, antiseptic and bleaching agent. In
small doses it increases the action of the secreting organs, and if
long continued it acts specifically upon the lymphatic glandular
system, causing the reduction or absorption of glandular and
other tumors. In large doses it acts as an acro-narcotic poison,
and its use should always be commenced in small doses, carefully
increased, and discontinued when such symptoms as nausea,
vomiting or giddiness appear. It is chiefly used as a disinfectant.
Therapeutic Uses.—Solutions of chlorinated lime are employed
locally in scarlet fever, diphtheria, aphthae, gangrene ; and it has
been administered internally in scrofula, typhus, malignant scar-
let fever, syphilis, etc.
Dose.—Of chloride of lime, gr. j to gr. v, in solution, several
times a day. As a wash, i part dissolved in lOO parts of water.
Dental Uses.—Chloride of lime is employed in dental practice
in the treatment of cancrum oris ; one method of application
being the introduction of the dry powder, with the point of the
finger, to the ulcerated surfaces, and the mouth well washed out
also, in the form of a gargle composed
immediatelv afterward ;
of I part of powdered chloride of lime to 30 parts of mucilage
and 15 parts of syrup. Solutions of chloride of lime are also
efficient in scorbutic and other ulcerations of the mouth. It is
also employed to correct the fetor of the breath, in the form of a
mouth wash, prepared as a weak solution.
One of the most important uses in dental practice is as a
bleaching agent, either alone or in combination with other sub-
stances, to restore the color of devitalized teeth. When chlori-
nated lime is employed for bleaching discolored teeth, a good
quality should be obtained, and no steel instrument used for its
introduction ; wood or gold instruments are to be preferred, and
the chloride should be perfectly dry, and have been kept so from
the time it was made. An efficient bleaching preparation is com-
posed of equal parts of dry chlorinated lime and tartaric acid.