Page 41 - My FlipBook

PYORRHCEA ALVEOLARIS 25

will generally cause some pain. The various remedies
that have been used with more or less success are
well known and need not be mentioned. Solutions
of sulphuric acid, or aromatic sulphuric acid full
strength, have been recommended, and certainly
help to clean out the pockets. Tincture of iodine
applied to the gums is most useful, and there are
few cases where, if it was only applied early enough
and frequently enough, it would not check peridental
inflammation sufficiently to either entirely prevent
pyorrhoea, or, at any rate, render its subsequent
treatment easy and satisfactory.
Success in the treatment of pyorrhoea is often
doubtful and sometimes impossible. If the sockets
of the teeth are very much destroyed, and the teeth
are causing annoyance, it is better in the majority
of cases to extract them. If, on the contrary, the
destruction is not very extensive, and particularly
if only a few teeth are involved, the treatment may
be undertaken with every probability of, at any rate,
greatly improving the conditions and in some cases
effecting a complete cure. In others, although the
lost tissue is not completely restored, the teeth will
become firm and useful in mastication, and the
disease is for all practical purposes cured. Much,
however, will depend on the patient's vitality or
health. Very delicate or weakly individuals, and