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174 Tooth Ache.
There are a thousand remedies for the tooth ache ; the
shops are full of nostrums: tincture of opium, ether, cam-
phorated spirits, the essential oils, as oil of cloves, are as good
as any of them. Caustics have been much used, (and these form
the base of all quack remedies,) for the purpose of destroying
the nerve, as the nitric, muriatic or sulphuric acids ; of these,
the nitric is the best, as it has a powerful affinity for animal
matter, and destroys it without much pain. The nitrate of
silver, (lunar caustic) was a favorite tooth ache remedy with
the great surgeons Hunter and Abernethy, a bit being intro-
duced into the painful tooth. Other caustics have been used.
One great objection to these substances is, that they destroy
or injure the teeth. The most, effectual and least painful means
of destroying the nerves of the teeth is arsenic, and we most
strenuously recommend its use for this purpose. Thousands
of teeth are daily being extracted that may easily be preserv-
ed, often for a great number of years, by the application of
this remedy and plugging the teeth afterwards. (See method
of using the arsenic, page 115.)
Kreosote has lately been used as a powerful remedy for the
tooth ache : it frequently acts like a charm. But the most
powerful of all temporary remedies, that we have ever used,
And through my haga gi'es mony a twang,
Wi' gnawing vengeance
!
Tearing my nerves wi' bitter pang,
Like racking engines!
" When fevers burn, or ague freezes,
Rheumatics gnaw, or cholic squeezes,
Our neighbor's sympathy may ease us
Wi' pitying moan !
But thou— the hell o' a' diseases,
Ay mocks our groan
" Where'er the place be priests ca' hell,
Whence a' the tones o' misery yell,
And ranked plagues their numbers tell,
In dread fu' raw;
Thou—tooth ache, surely bear'st the hell,
Amangst them a.' "
174 Tooth Ache.
There are a thousand remedies for the tooth ache ; the
shops are full of nostrums: tincture of opium, ether, cam-
phorated spirits, the essential oils, as oil of cloves, are as good
as any of them. Caustics have been much used, (and these form
the base of all quack remedies,) for the purpose of destroying
the nerve, as the nitric, muriatic or sulphuric acids ; of these,
the nitric is the best, as it has a powerful affinity for animal
matter, and destroys it without much pain. The nitrate of
silver, (lunar caustic) was a favorite tooth ache remedy with
the great surgeons Hunter and Abernethy, a bit being intro-
duced into the painful tooth. Other caustics have been used.
One great objection to these substances is, that they destroy
or injure the teeth. The most, effectual and least painful means
of destroying the nerves of the teeth is arsenic, and we most
strenuously recommend its use for this purpose. Thousands
of teeth are daily being extracted that may easily be preserv-
ed, often for a great number of years, by the application of
this remedy and plugging the teeth afterwards. (See method
of using the arsenic, page 115.)
Kreosote has lately been used as a powerful remedy for the
tooth ache : it frequently acts like a charm. But the most
powerful of all temporary remedies, that we have ever used,
And through my haga gi'es mony a twang,
Wi' gnawing vengeance
!
Tearing my nerves wi' bitter pang,
Like racking engines!
" When fevers burn, or ague freezes,
Rheumatics gnaw, or cholic squeezes,
Our neighbor's sympathy may ease us
Wi' pitying moan !
But thou— the hell o' a' diseases,
Ay mocks our groan
" Where'er the place be priests ca' hell,
Whence a' the tones o' misery yell,
And ranked plagues their numbers tell,
In dread fu' raw;
Thou—tooth ache, surely bear'st the hell,
Amangst them a.' "
