The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1882-08-30
THE DENTIST.
The Ancient and 8Iedern Methods Of ,ha
Profession.

iepail 'eeeni ne SIMPLY upro0ted those that
were decayed. 1t is only of late years that
the dentist has occupied recognized posi-
ton in the Departments of minor surgery
Some dexterity and considerable muscular
strength were the chief qualifications of the
dentists Of our childhood When patient
called on one of them, the dentist would put
his finger in the patients month and after
feeling around among the stumps and sIak-
ing them one after another until howl
from the patient demonstrated that he had
hold of the right one, he would say, laconic-
ally, Its got TO come OUT Then he
would go for his instruments: These me-
chanical appliances were of a very primative
character. They consisted of several pair of
things like bullet monlds those of the largest
size he used on adults, and the small ones on
children. While he was engaged filing the
rust off lis instruments, the sufferer had
time to note the contents of the room On
shelf was a rope, with which nervous
patients were tied in the operating chair; on
another chair basin, and pitcher with a
broken handle containing water presumably
for the pnpose of washing away such CORY
evidences of butchery as the operation might
leave; on broken legged desk, propped up
with brick, was a skull with u cracked jaw
bone, which was to suggestive to be pleasant
or soothing in the window sill the dentists
library, consisting of copy of Wedps PATH
otogy Of tile Teeth, and a portion of volume
of Moores melodies in front of the opera
l.
engraving representing Napoleon on the
Island of St. Helena. The picture was eyi.
IDENTIFY put there with the view of distractine
the patients attention from thoughts of the
agony in store for him. While he was won-
dering il Napoleon ever bad the toothache.
and if he ever burned the inside of his
mouth with creosote and oil of cloves in his
efforts to deaden the pain: and while he was
wishing that he could change places with
Napoleon for day or two, the dentist grasp
ed him by the hair, threw his head back.
inserted the can opener in his mouth, and
began CROPPING around for the bad tooth.
When he found it, his usual plan was 10
crush it to pieces and dig out the fragments.
one at time. During the operation the
sufferer groaned, and moaned, and yearued
for death. When the dentists got his Crap
ping irons around the root of A double
tooth, and braced himself up with his foot
against the wall for long pull, strong
pull, and a pull all together, the patient
thought that the end of all things were at
hand, that an explosion had occurred in the
cellar, and that the heavens were rolling
themselves up as scroll, while the top of
his head was being broken off, and his YER.
zebra was being janmed down into the hol-
low of his legs. When he was Gained with
glass of water he found that the alarming
sensations he had experienced were caused,
as the dentist put it, by the extraction of
the molar from the alyeolar cavity"
The mod IN dentist is different kind OF
an aggravated outrage. He has a college
diploma that he keeps hanging on the wall
In tin case. He usually has q nicely fur
nished operating room. where he has an
elaborate chair, working on pivots and
hinges, that he places the patient in when
he ia pulling his tooth, and another to be
used when tooth is being filled. He has
hundreds of Instruments iminutive augers
and gouges and scrapers, and one vile
thing that seems to make about seven
hundred n minute, and with
which he bores into the nerve of your
tooth until you feel as il your immortal
soul was being tempered with. But the
modern dentist seldom pulls tooth. He
prefers to ill it with some gutta percha
sort of composition, or with gold. You
see the filling WILL in the course of time,
come out and then he gets another job
putting it in again, whereas when he
pulls out a tooth that ends it the owner
of the tooth seldom cares TO have IL deco
rated, or to sqaander bullion omit after it
is out He usually carries it in his vest
pocket for two or three days, and then
throws it into some vacant lot When
man has AN aching tooth that tries to
push itself into prominence, that seems
to swell up and get in the way Of every
thing he eats, and to take more of his
thought and attention than he can spare,
he can go to the modern dentist, who viii
fill him up with gas until lie imagines he
is balloon, soring up almost as high as
the dentists charge for the operation,
and when he comes to earth again, the
tooth will be gone and there win be va
cant place in his jaw that win seem to him
IN ha ahaut tho etza nf n tnvu lar Tho
painless dentistry of to-day is less excit
ing than the painful dentistry of the past
but it is otherwise an improvement on the
old style.-Teras sJfiags. 81