Kimball enterprise. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1883, 1883-04-13

flesh tnf1 Q 4 sake 0iaDoy i1afuii
ly vet out of eating aprons :
BadTeeth and Nervous Trouble.
From the New York Times.
1t appears not to be generally under
stood even among cultivated people,
nevertheless, although the fact has been
dwelAupon with emphasis by the best
medical authorities, that the presence Of
~carious, crowded or symmetrical teeth
in the human mouth is the progenitor of
along train Of nervous diseases, compris-
ing not only facial neuralgia and its con-
cemitant troubles, but diseases ofthe ear,
inflammatory as wellas functional, even
tuating Otter in partial loss of hearing,
defects of vision, naso-pharyngeal ca
tarrh and other tormenting maladies.
One of cur acutest and most sue
cessful specialists in the treatment OF
nervous diseases has become so fully
cl ! sinced by long experience Of the
part PLAYED by detective teeth in the
development not of neuralgia only, but
of the more obscure neuroses that he al
wavs insists, as q condition precedent to
the acceptance of the case, that a thor
ongh examination of the cavity of the
mouth shall be undertaken by a COM
petent dentist, for, he says, not only
may a single diseased tooth result in
persistent nervous disturbance, but dis
eases of the brain, decay or perversion
Of the mental faculties, even epilepsy
and tetatnic spasms often have their
starting point in dental irritations; and
he has observed cases III which, while
laying the foundation for q long train of
nervous troubles, the irritated organ it
self gave no sign, either by local pain or
vague discomfort, of the agency it was
constantly exerting to produce serious
disturbance at some distant point.
DR.. Sexton has long since
adopted the practice of examining the
teeth Of every patient brought to him
for treatment of ear trouble, particularly
for partial deafness and of general irrita-
ton of the organ; and speakingthe other
day of the large number of pupils from
the public schools who attended the au-
raj clinics at the hospital with which he
is connected, sit is rare" he said, "to
find a single patient in whose case dem
ial irritation is not to be considered
among the prominent causative fRctors.''
But it is possible hat mental decay
should ha We its starting point in dental
irritation? This question is answered by
a remarkable case narrated BY a promi-
nent dentist in that city-Dr. Smith, of
No. 50 East Twenty-thi1d street. The
patient was a gentleman from Boston.
about 30 years of age, the senior partner
IN a prosperous dry-goods i,ouse. Sew
eral years previous to the date when he
came under the care of DR..
TO fail ine~Splicubly. Medical advice.
tones and stimuiants we're %eonaIly
without avail. The trouble was djarnos-
ticated as nervaas exhaustion. he wasad-
vised to pass a vearin Europe: did so,
and returnedin no wavi improved, con,
slant victim to neuralgia and sleepless-
ness, his friends soon noticed with any
iety the DEVELOPMENT Of eymptoms Of
cerebral disturbance Fits Of mnntal
alteration followed and finally SWIM.
toms of~propressive dementia set in. The
best Of Rostonanl New YORK
were alike bafHea nv the ohscnre and
inexplicable features of tIe case The
patient failed gradually Init steadily. in
mind as we'll as body. and in both
equally, Accident. or rather the occasion
to have a defective tooth renairea
brought the patient in contact With the
dentist, who discovered in addition To
the service required. that the two teeth
that had been filed with amalgam some
years before. decay had set in heneatb
the plugs. The latter were accordiaplv re-.
moved, the cavities cleansed. and y I'll
ing of gold foil was substituted in esch
case. Strange to saw. from The date or
the removal of these plugs. the SWIM
toms of mental decay bean to disap.
pear, the physical condition Of tha NO.
tent RAPIDLY improved. and in ~ few
weeks, without further medicaliutarcar
ence, he was a well man and canable IF
attending to business. If is y c,,ri,Ss
fact that neither Of the two teatb wh;nh
we're responsible for the train Of n]arun1s
and cerebral disasters wherewith This
gentleman had suffered for years had
over given the least local trouble since if
was filled. Whethe the a,nalga,n acted
as a poison upon the delicate nerve bud
beneath, or whether direct pressure IN
on the nerve was the cause Of the irrita-
ton, medical science is incompetent to
decide, but it is an assured fact that the
progressive mental decay had it's start
ing point in the two minute nervous 6l-
aments connecting these ORGANS With the
brain, and there is no doubt that tho
care would have terminated in dementia
if the amalgam plugs had not bonn ras
moved and the cavities properly filed.
Another case-that Of q gentlemen
whose name has since become familiar in
literature-will serve to point the moral