Page 19 - My FlipBook

THE RELIEF OF PAIN 3

change. It is important to relieve pain as promptly
as possible, and in order to effect this it is occa-
sionally necessary in cases of non-exposure of the
pulp, to apply the rubber dam and thoroughly
dry the dentine with applications of absolute alcohol
and warm air, in order to promote the absorption
of the medicament. It is hardly necessary to men-
tion that if one remedy does not answer, another
one should be tried. It will often be found that an
alternate application of two or three remedies is
better than a continuous application of a single one.
It is also hardly necessary to say, that whenever the
pain is severe, every efifort should be made to relieve
it before the patient leaves the chair, and that it is
frequently advisable, if the pain has not completely
subsided, to tell the patient to return in from half-
an-hour to an hour, if necessary. An application
of chloroform may " act as a charm " in quickly
relieving pain ; but it should always be followed by
one of the above-mentioned, or some equally useful
medicament, owing to its effects rapidly " passing off."
Whenever an aching tooth, with a live but un-
exposed pulp, resists the usual treatment, it gene-
rally becomes a question, whether the pulp shall
be boldly opened into, so as to enable the remedies to
be placed in direct contact with it ; whether arsenical
paste shall be at once applied, informing the patient