Page 511 - My FlipBook

PHENACETINE.
509
peroxide in very small portions— about what could be taken upon
the point of the large blade of a pocket-knife—dusting in the
water slowly to cause as little agitation as possible, and this
amount should not be added oftener than once in a half hour,
being careful to have the sodium peroxide finely powdered. This
to be continued until the preparation begins to look opaque as
powder is added. Let it stand over night and it is then ready
for use. If a lump about the size of a small bean is dropped into
water, you will notice on the margin of the line of agitation a
ring of color resembling iodine. If the peroxide is put in the
water, as I have suggested, there will be very little surface agita-
tion and none of the discoloration, the result of which is a solution
that has never failed. This takes several days to make, but it
will more than pay for the time consumed, in its prompt action
as a bleacher and sterilizer. I have placed this solution in the
hands of a number of gentlemen, to be used in the treatment of
abscessed roots, and up to the writing of this not a single failure
has been reported. The general impression is that sodium peroxide
is for bleaching only, while it is the most valuable preparation
ever found for the treatment of dead teeth, if used in the follow-
ing manner : Cleanse the root-canals of such septic matter as pos-
sible to get at with instruments, and dry them with hot air ; then
carry small ropes of cotton, saturated with a full strength solution,
as near the foramen as you can, using orange-wood, shaped like fine
probes, and cover with a temporary stopping, letting the whole
remain for two days, after which wash with hot water, and fill in
the usual manner." When peroxide of sodium is introduced into
a pulp-canal a chemical reaction takes place, and like peroxide of
hydrogen, it is an active oxidizer from the facility with which it
parts with one atom of oxygen
; it is also a saponifier and solvent
of the pulp tissue, and of oils and fats. Its effects on the fibrils
are to dissolve and saponify them as a bleaching agent, for its
action far into the dentinal tubuli.
PHENACETINE—PARAACETPHENITIDINE.
Formula.—C,,H,,1^0,=C,H,—{0C,H,)'NH{C2H,0).
Medical Properties and Therapeutic Uses.—Phenacetine is