Page 490 - My FlipBook

488 DENTAL MEDICINE. a
The unexpanded buds are of a dark-brown color, with a yellow-
ish red tint.
The oil is prepared by distilling cloves with water, to which
common salt is added, in order to raise the temperature to the
boiling point. It has a fragrant odor, and a hot, acrid taste.
Medical Properties and Action.—Oil of cloves contains tannic
oil, resin, etc., and two substances—
acid, a pungent, volatile
hydro-carbon, caryophyllin., and an oxygenated oil, eugenol^ called
an acid on account of its possessing acid properties. Oil of cloves
is an aromatic and powerful stimulant. Although it is a very
fluid, clear and colorless preparation when fresh, it becomes
yellow by exposure, and ultimately reddish-brown, with the odor
of cloves, and a hot, aromatic taste. Like cloves, the oil acts
less upon the system at large than on the part to which it is
immediately applied.
. Therapeutic Uses.—Oil of cloves is sometimes administered to
relieve nausea and vomiting, to correct flatulence and excite
digestion when languid : but its chief use is to modify the action
of other medicines.
Dose.—Of oil of cloves, gtt. ij to gtt. vj.
Dental Uses.—In dental practice, oil of cloves is employed to
relieve odontalgia, in the form of a drop or two upon cotton,
introduced into the carious cavity of a tooth ; it obtunds the pain
by an over-stimulating effect upon the irritable pulp. It is also
employed for the same purpose in combination with other agents,
such as morphia, sweet spirits of nitre, etc. When the use of
creasote or carbolic acid is prohibited, owing to the patient's
idiosyncrasy, the oil of cloves may be substituted.
The oil of cloves has also the effect of rendering creasote and
carbolic acid more pleasant, without interfering with their action,
being added in equal admixture. It is also employed very satis-
factorily in the treatment of alveolar abscess, putrid pulps, being
applied like creasote or carbolic acid, or combined with other
agents.
Eugenol., CioH,202, also called eugenic acid, is an active prin-
ciple of oil of cloves, and is prepared by decomposing eugenate
of potassium with sulphuric acid. It is in the form of a colorless