TEETH. 



the exifteilce of the ufual fymptoms of the fcurvy. In ad- 

 dition to an intolerable itching in the gums, very acute pain 

 is alfo often experienced. 



With refpeft to the cure, topical remedies muft be em- 

 ployed, together with fuch external and internal medicines 

 as are generally requiilte for the fcurvy. 



7. Odontalgia gaftrica is an acute pain in the teeth and 

 gums, arifing from a vvrojig ftate of the prima: vis. 



It may be cured by emetics, purgatives, and other me- 

 dicines calculated to put the bowels and llomach into order 

 again. 



Odontalgia gaftrico-vcrminofa. People who have worms 

 are frequently tormented with the tooth-ache. Authors at- 

 tempt to explain the faft as follows : they ilate that worms 

 in the inteiltines irritate the great intercoftal nerve, which 

 has a ftrong fympathetic conneftion with the nerves of the 

 teeth. 



The ciu-e demands purgatives and anthelmintic remedies. 



8. Odontalgia a ventriculi debilitate, feu irritabilitate. 

 It fometimes happens that men and hyfterical women, whofe 

 ftomachs are weak and irritable, are afflifted with excru- 

 ciating tooth-aches, which yield to no remedies but antifpaf- 

 modics, ftomachics, and tonics. 



9. Odontalgia gravidarum. In the tooth-aclie originating 

 "from pregnancy, the pain often fhifts from one tooth to 



another, and comes on very repeatedly, although the teeth 

 are frequently perfedlly found. Sometimes the pain is 

 merely fympathetic ; but, in moft inftances, it is connefted 

 with that plethoric ftate of the female conftitution known 

 to prevail during pregnancy. Venefeftion is, therefore, 

 the chief means of rehef, and then topical applications 

 may be ufed. 



It is a queftion, whether the operation' of drawing a tooth 

 fliould ever be performed on pregnant women. There are 

 fome women who have fuch a dread of the inftruments for 

 tliis purpofe, that the very fight of them brings on the 

 danger of convulfions and a mifcarriage. But, on the 

 other hand, the pain may be fo violent as to create a chance 

 of the fame evils. Here much addrefs is requifite to per- 

 fuade the patient to undergo the operation, and at the 

 fame time great prudence not to advife it, unlefs rendered 

 abfolutely indifpenfable by the feverity and obilinacy of the 

 pain. 



10. Odontalgia nutricum. Women who fuckle are alfo 

 particularly fubjeft to be afBifted with excruciating tooth- 

 ache, whether the teeth be found or carious. When the 

 pain refifts the ufual means, efpecially opium and venefec- 

 tion, the tooth muft be extrafted. This cafe has been fup- 

 pofed to depend upon a certain fympathy between the 

 mamma; and the teeth. 



11. Odontalgia from cutting the dens fapientis. Some- 

 times great and long-continued pain, delirium, and other 

 alarming fymptoms take place, until the tooth has made its 

 way out, or the gums have been divided. 



12. Odontalgia hyfterica. This fpecies of tooth-ache 

 often affedls hyfterical women a long while, notwithftanding 

 the teeth may be perfeftly healthy^; nor does it always yield 

 to opium, nor even to the operation of extradting feveral of 

 the painful teeth. 



The treatment requires the warm bath, emollient fomen- 

 tations to the cheeks, and gargles of the fame quality to 

 the mouth. 



13. Odontalgia from the teeth being worn away. The 

 bony fubftance of the teeth is fo fenfsble, when deprived of 

 the enamel, that on coming into contaft with air, or food, 

 at all too warm, or cold, the moft intolerable pain is 

 excited. 



14. Odontalgia from tartar on the teeth. The tartar 

 feparates the gums from the neck and fang of the tootli, fo 

 as to expofe the latter parts to the cold air, and the tlimu- 

 lating quality of the food. Hence, it is obvious, p;>in 

 mulf be the confcquence. 



Tlie radical cure can only be accomplifhed by removing 

 the tartar. The complaint may be palliated by the common 

 applications for the relief of tooth-ache. 



I 5. Odontalgia from a frafture of the body of the tootli. 

 In tlijs cafe the nerves of the remaining portion of the tooth 

 are expofed to the air, and fometimes become afTcfted with 

 extreme pain. 



Writers recommend for the purpofe of relieving thiti 

 complaint, either applying the cautery to the furfacc of the 

 fraftured tooth, or elfe covering it with wax, or gum 

 maftich. 



16. Odontalgia verminofa. Whether the tooth-ache can 

 ever really arife from the prefence of worms in a carious 

 tooth, is doubtful. Plenck conceives the occurrence pof- 

 fible, and he propofes as a means of cure the employ- 

 ment of a gargle containing the muriates of ammonia and 

 foda. 



17. Odontalgia periodica fignifies that form of the tooth- 

 ache, which comes on every other day, and refembles in its 

 periods of attack an intermittent fever. 



In the treatment, authors recommend the ufe of'purgatives, 

 emetics, and the Peruvian bark. 



18. Odontalgia cariofa. It is not every fort of caries 

 of the teeth which is accompanied with pain ; but only the 

 internal or external humid kind of caries. In the dry caries, 

 and alio in the humid, when all the nervous filaments of tlie 

 bone of the tooth have been deftroyed by it, the carious 

 tooth remains free from pain. 



In the tooth-ache from caries, the following modes of relief 

 are recommended : 



1. Preffure upon the nerve which comes out of the jnfra- 

 orbitary canal of the fuperior maxillary bone. 



2. Preffure upon the nerve whicli paffes out of the canalij 

 mentalis of the lower jaw-bone. 



3. Sulphuric acid apphed to the carious part of the 

 tooth by means of a probe. Plenck has fometimes found 

 this plan ufeful. 



4. Vinum pyrethri, vel rutre, or ftrong vinegar. 



5. Sinapifms to the cheek. 



6. Blifters to the nape of the neck, and behfhd tlie 

 ears. 



7. The application of a magnet to the painful tooth. 



8. Oil of cloves introduced into the carious tootli. 



9. Camphorated milk retained for a time in the mouth. 



10. Burning the nerve with a heated probe. 



1 1 . Opium applied to the carious tooth, or admiiiiftered 

 internally, 



12. Luxating the painful tooth is another mode of ixlief 

 which has been propofed. With the aid of a fuitablc iii- 

 ftrument the tooth is to be turned a httle round in its 

 focket, and then turned back again into its natural pofition. 

 Thus, the fmall nerve, which enters the hole in the fang, 

 is cither broken or rendered paralytic. 



Caries of the Teeth, — This fignifies an erofion of the fub- 

 ftance of the teeth. 



The dentes molares are more frequently than the reft of 

 the teeth affefted with caries, and the dentes fapiciitiie 

 oftener than any of the other grinders. 



Caries of the teeth varies in rcfped to its Ctuation, 

 figure, nature, and caufe. 



In regard to fituation, the caries may take place in one, 



in feveral, or in all tlic teeth. It may occur upon the ex- 



C c 2 ternal 



