402 MATER i A MEDIC A AND THERAPEUTICS. 



processes in the mouth are performed, the solids being imper- 

 fectly masticated and insufficiently insalivated from hasty or 

 careless eating, or from disease or actual loss of the teeth. 



IV. NATURAL RECOVERY. 



We have next to enquire, whether natural recovery, as 

 defined by us in the first chapter, ever occurs in connection 

 with the mouth and its functions. Observation places this 

 beyond doubt, in all the classes of disorder to which we have 

 just referred. The sense of taste is restored after fever has 

 gone. The secretions which have been deranged by the same 

 cause, or by Atropia, Mercury, or Jaborandi, return to the 

 normal quantity and quality when the disturbing influence is 

 spent or has been removed. The excretions again become 

 " sweet " when the substance that disordered them has been 

 completely thrown out. The teeth present side by side with 

 decay a process of repair, which frequently counteracts it. 



There is, however, a limit to recovery in the mouth, as 

 elsewhere. The teeth decay and fall out ; and the other tissues 

 may become involved in serious or hopeless disease. Even then, 

 as we shall presently see, rational treatment is not impossible. 



V. THERAPEUTICS. 



The rational treatment of diseases originating in the mouth 

 is but the scientific application of the knowledge arranged 

 under the previous four heads, respecting its physiology, the 

 forces acting on the mouth which are at our command, the 

 causes and phenomena of its derangements, and the occurrence 

 and limits of natural recovery. 



1. The food must always receive most careful supervision, 

 not only in cases where it has been bad, improperly taken, or 

 imperfectly masticated, but in every instance of disorder of 

 digestion from whatever cause, in the mouth or other part of 

 the alimentary canal. The details of dietetic treatment must 

 be learned from other works. 



2. The disorders of the sensory apparatus of the mouth very 

 rarely call for treatment, but we have constant occasion to avail 

 ourselves of our influence over the nerves of taste for the 

 purpose of relieving derangements of the secretions. Thus 

 deficiency of saliva, and the distressing thirst and loss of relish 

 which attend it in fever, may be relieved either through the 

 nerves of taste, or more directly by means of acids in the form 

 of drinks, such as water acidulated with the Mineral Acids, 

 Vinegar and water, Carbonic Acid in effervescing drinks, Cream 

 of Tartar, Lemon Juice in various combinations, and acid fruits, 



