356 DENTIFRICES-GOOD AND BAD. 



tigatc thorough]}- they Avill find that they ai*c very wrong. 8oap, for in- 

 stance, does not clean teeth. The same amount of friction with the brush 

 and water will cleanse them better. The soap serves as a lubricator, causing 

 the brush to glide smoothly over the teeth and gums ; hence its popularity. 

 J^o reasonable amount of scrubbing will remove the viscid effects of the 

 soap from the mouth ; it remains there as an irritant to the soft parts of the 

 teeth and mucous membrane, and as an absorbent of calculi, forming a base 

 for tartar, gangrene and decay. Fine soaps are composed of olive oil and 

 soda. The olive oil is certainly not a detersive, and the soda certainly is 

 a dangerous alkali. Mottled soaps are made so \ij use of green vitriol and 

 gulphureted ley. A still greater danger is in store for those who use soap 

 as a dentifrice. The cheaper grades are made of cheap ley and common oil 

 or more frequently of animal fat, and very often of animals that die of dis- 

 ease or poison, in and near large cities where the soap factories exist. Bad 

 cases of diseased mouth are frequent subjects in the colleges — directly 

 traceable to the use of soap. I have numerous cases of loose teeth — where 

 every tooth seems to be lying around in a bed of ulceration. Ask the pa- 

 tients what they have used as dentifrices and the reply is soaj:), prescribed 

 by Dr. Pillgarlick. 



The most advertised tooth-wash extant is popular because it produces a 

 froth in the mouth. It is composed of water, rum and soap bark (quillaya 

 saponaria). The active principle of this bark is an acrid vegetable alkali. 

 Well-known chemists and dentists who have tested it, pronounce it positive- 

 ly injurious, especially when used any length of time hy delicate ladies and 

 •children. Eum and myrrh, as a mouth-wash, produce a froth. Myrrh is 

 bad on account of being too pungent, and depositing a resinous precipitation 

 :about the teeth and gums. Orris root, orange peel, sugar, etc., are used only 

 to add bulk and flavor, and on account of their pasty qualities are certain 

 to leave dejiosits that form a dangerous nucleus for tartar — by absorbing 

 acid and gas, 



Charcoal, next after soap, is is the greatest nuisance any intelligent pro- 

 fessional ever persisted in prescribing. All they claim for it is that it 

 scours dirty teeth, and, being carbon, it absorbs the acids. Every patient 

 I have seen that continued its use over a year, has scoured his teeth and 

 gums almost to ruination. Microscopical examination shows every atom to 

 be a sharpened flake that scratches, like a diamond, everything it comes in 

 contact with. (It cannot be reduced to an impalpable powder.) These 

 flakes are forced in the interstices of the teeth and under the gingival 

 margins of the gums, where they retain acids, and transmit them to sensi- 

 tive parts which they would not otherwise reach. When charcoal has been 

 used a short time, blue lines may be seen under the margin of the gums. 

 After continued use the necks of the teeth become exposed and sensitive 

 and loose almost beyond remed}'. 



All gritty dentifrices have the same objectionable qualities. Salt is both 

 acid and alkali, and has no merit as a fricane. 



