Page 434 - My FlipBook

432 DENTAL MEDICINE.
iodoform ; also aqua heliotrope, for the hands also, one or two
drops of creasote or carbolic acid to the ounce of iodoform, is
also recommended. According to some, it is not a matter of in-
difference whether iodoform be applied as a dressing for wounds
and ulcers, in the form of crystals, as amorphous powder dis-
solved in ether or as an ointment. Iodoform acts not only as a
chemical combination, allowing the escape of iodine in a free
state, but it has certain mechanical properties. When the sur-
face of an ulcer or wound is covered with a layer of iodoform in
crystals, a certain degree of absorption of the fluids secreted takes
place. These products of secretion penetrating the interstices
between the minute crystals of iodoform soon lose the liquid
form, and produce with them an impermeable crust. Under this
crust cicatrization soon occurs, without any retraction of the
tissues ; hence they suppose that the best form in which to em-
ploy iodoform for ulcers and wounds is that of the crystals. As
toxic effects have followed the internal administration of iodo-
form, it should be prescribed with care, and also the application
of it to extensive surfaces should be avoided. The toxic symp-
toms have been manifested as follows, the maximum dose which
caused them in a certain case being iij/^ grains:
" Giddiness, vomiting arid deep sleep, from which the patient
could be roused with difficulty. The somnolence was interrupted
by periods of excitement, each lasting several hours, and was fol-
lowed by delirium, intense headache, sense of impending death,
spasmodic contractions of the facial muscles, and in the case of
the younger patient, diplopia. The functions of the other sen-
sory organs were not disturbed, and the pupils presented a nor-
mal reaction. Deep inspirations alternated with apncea of about
a minute's duration. After five or six days, the toxic symptoms
gradually lessened and passed away."
Iodoform has been used for odontalgia, on account of its gently
caustic and anodyne reaction on exposed pulps of teeth. Com-
bined with arsenious acid and creasote in a devitalizing mixture,
iodoform lessens the pain caused by the arsenical paste. Dr.
James Truman was the first to suggest the use of iodoform in
combination with arsenious oxide.