Page 366 - My FlipBook

338 THE MICRO-ORGANISMS OF THE HUMAN MOUTH.

I have already cited cases of this nature resulting from trans-
plantation of the teeth, on page 248. For most of the follow-
ino- cases I am indehted to the excellent communication of L.
Duncan Bulkley-'^ on this subject. Dulles ^'^ reports a case in
which the patient, a female domestic of excellent character,
developed a chancre of the lip two weeks after the extraction
of a tooth by a dentist. Otis -^^ saw chancre of the lip develop
about three weeks after a morning spent in a dentist's chair.
Lanceraux -^'' and Giovanni ^^* relate similar cases. Leloir-^^ and
Lydston^^ observed chancre of the gum resulting from cleansing
the teeth. Roddick ^'^^ a like affection due to extracting with
infected forceps. Parker "- observed a case where man, wife, and
child Avere all infected with syphilis through a tooth-extraction.
Bulkley furthermore refers to some thirty cases in which
syphilis was communicated through tooth-wounds (bites, or
blows upon the teeth), as well as to a number of cases in which
the dentist had inoculated himself by scratching the finger upon
a patient's tooth. It is, moreover, a significant fact that in a
recent sitting of the " Conseil d'Hygiene et de la Salubrite de la
Seine," it was even suggested to recommend to the proper
authorities that measures be taken to prevent the communication
of disease in this manner.
Apart from these cases, in which a single individual has
become the victim of an often criminal neglect of proper clean-
liness on the part of the operator, veritable epidemics have been
occasioned by infection with the saliva of syphilitic persons.
I observed the first case in the year 1878, at Philadelphia. A
large number of boys had been tattooed by a man who was in
the habit of moistening the instrument which he used, with his
saliva. This man was syphilitic, as was afterward ascertained.
Every one of the tattooed boys became afflicted with syphilis.
I also refer to the recent syphilis epidemic in the Russian prov-
ince of Wiatka. The belief is said to prevail among the peas-
ants of that region that all affections of the eyes are caused by
the presence of foreign bodies. In every case of eye-disease the
attempt is consequently made to remove the suspected disturb-
ance by inserting the point of the tongue between the eyelids.
Some individuals acquire a certain dexterity with their tongues,