Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-09-18
TIE DEMISE

The modern dentist is not like the dent.
ist of long ago. The old.tiue dentist did
not repair teeth, he simply uprooted those
that were decayed. It is only of late wears
that the dentist has occupied recognized
position in the department of minor sur
gerry. Some dexterty and considerable
muscular strength were the chief qualifica.
tions of the dentist of our childhood.
When patient called on one of them, the
dentist would put his finger in the patients
mouth, aud after feeling around among
the stumps and shaking them one after
another until q howl from the patient
demonstrated that he had hold of the right
come out" Then he would 60 for mis- in
struments. These mechanical appliances
were of very primitive character. They
let molds those of the largest size he used
on adults, and the smaller ones on chill.
dren. While he/was engaged filing the
rust off his 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 broken handle, containing water
presumably for the purpose of washing
away such CORY evidences of butchery IS
the operation might leave; on broken
legged desk, propped up with brick,
was skull with q cracked jaw-bone
which was too suggestive to be pleasar
or soothing; in the window-sill the dem
lists library, consisting of copy of Wedis
Pathology of the Teeth" and portion
OF volume of Moore's melodies in front
OF the operating chair, hanging on the wall,
was ssteelengraving representing Napoleon
on the Island of st. Helena. The picture
was evidently put there with the view of
distracting the patients attention from
thoughts of agony 10 store for him. While
he was wondering if Napoleon ever had
toothache, and if he ever burned the in.
side 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 grasped him by the hair,
threw his head back, inserted the can.
opener in his mouth, aud began cropping
around for the bad tooth. When he found
it his usual plan was to crush it into pieces
and dig out the fragments, one at time.
During the operation the sufferer groaued,
and moaned, and yearaea for death. When
the dentist got his graphing irons around
the root of double tooth, and braced
himself up with his foot against the wall
for long pull, strong pull, pull alto.
gether. the patient thought that the end OF
all things was at hand, that an explosion
had occurred in the cellar, and that the
heavens were rolling themselves up as a
scroll, while the top of his head was being
broken off, and his vertebra was being
jammed down into the hollow of his legs.
When he was Cal ned with glass OF water,
he found that the alarming sensations
he had experienced were caused, as the
dentist put 1t, "by the extraction Of
the molar from the alveolar cavity"
The modern dentist is a different kind
CT an aggravated outrage. He has a col
lege diploma that he keeps hanging on the
wall in tin case. He usually has q
nicely-furnished operating room, where he
has an elaborate chair working on pivots
and hinges, that he places the patient il
when he is pulliog his tooth, and another
to be used when a tooth is being filled
He has hundreds of instruments-diminu
tive augers and gougers and scrapers, and
one vile thing that seems to make about
700 revolutions minute, and with which
he bores into the nerve of your tooth unit
you feel as if your immortal soul was beine
tempered with. But the modern dentist
seldom pulls tooth. He prefers to fill il
with some guttapercha sort of composition
or with gold. You see the filling will, il
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 it decorated, or to squandel
bullion on it after it ia out. He usually
carries it in his vest pocket for two OF
three days, and then throws it into some
vacant lot. When man has an aching
tooth that tries to push itself into promi
nence, that seems to swell up and get in
the way of everything he eats, and to take
more of his thought and attention than he
can spare, he can go to the modern dentist,
who will fill him up with gas until he
imagines ketis balloon, soaring up almos.
as high as the dentists charge for the oper.
alton. and when he comes to earth again
the tooth will be gone, and there will be a
vacant place in his jaw that will seem to
him to be about the size of a town lot.
The painless dentistry of to-day is less ex
citing tIan the painful dentistry of the
past but it is otherwise an improvement
on the old style Texas Siftings.