Page 220 - My FlipBook

to have an influence in inducing patients to use the brush.
Many persons have more confidence in the use of some
remedy of this kind than they have in the mechanical clean-
ing, and wherever a mouth wash will do good in this way
a mouth wash should be prescribed. We cannot render
the mouth aseptic by the use of any of the anti-
septic mouth washes. This has been tried very thor-
oughly by Dr. Miller of Berlin. He reports that he
was unable to render his own mouth aseptic. He could
remove most o'f the micro-organisms for the time being,
but in a few hours they would be as plentiful in the moiith
as before. The most we can do is to eliminate those
not habitual in the mouth. Most of the micro-organisms
that are not habitual in the mouth, i. e., whose natural
habitat is not in the mouth, can be effectually removed
by the use of antispetic mouth washes and the vigorous
mechanical cleaning of the teeth. This I have tried and
found that the pus micro-organisms, the staphylococci, ex-
cept the one white staphylococcus which is habitual in the
mouth, 'might be very eflfectually removed by the use of
the brush. I have tried that with nurses in the hospitals
who were dressing suppurating wounds. Nurses in hos-
pitals where they are dressing suppurating wounds gener-
ally have pus micro-organisms in their saliva. These can
be very effectually removed so that we can make plant
after plant and not be able to find pus micro-organisms
in the mouths of these persons, especially if they desist
from the handling of wounds for a short time, or if they
are taught especial care as to reinfection their mouths can
be kept fairly free from pus micro-organisms or other patho-
genic micro-organisms, except thoise whose natural habitat is
the mouth, which we are utterly unable to effectively remove.

The Toothpick, Ligature Tape and Rubber Bands.

Now, as we cannot clean the proximate surfaces with
the brush, it is necessary that we use other means,
and one of the very best of these is the ordinary rubber
bands or the silk floss. Anyone may carry a ball of silk
floss in their pocket, or a bunch of ru1>ber bands like these
for holding papers together. They are cheap and we may
use one and throw it away. The rubber band is perhaps

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