The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1885-05-20
DELICATE OPERATION.
Recovering a Set Of Teeth From
q Patients Throat.
How st. Louis Man Was Relieved From .
Very Perilous PosltIon--Removlng
Rubber Plate and Teeth Which We're
Inadvertently Swallowed.
[st. Louis Globe Democratl

A party of doctors stood over the pros
trate figure Of man in an upper story OF
the house No. 1120 Biddle street, 70 ster-
day morning, watching earnestly the eff
forts of a short, wiry, black-eyed coll
league to extract with pair of torceps
q set of artificial teeth that was located In
the mans ossophagus. The effort was
fruitless, and after a short consultation
1t was agreed tn at an operation should
be performed. The teeth had been pre-
viously located by the Introduction Of
sound through the mouth. They were
found to be situated in the oesophagus, an
inch o. two above the articulation Of the
clavicle with the sternum. The most in
tense interest was manifested then In the
operation. The chief figure, the short,
black-eyed man alluded to, rolled up his
shirt-sleeves and cast his eye over a gilt
tering array lof instruments, the patient
in the meantime being placed under the
influence of chloroform.
The patient was Joseph MCGOWAN,
fireman by occupation, and thirty three
years Of age. On the night of April Sd,
as the clock In the church tower close by
struck the hour Of midnight, McGowan
awoke to the realization that he had swal-
lowed a small Jagged rubber plate which
held together four upper teeth. Alarmed
for his life he Immediately sought the
services Of a well-known surgeon, who,
after learning Of his trouble, sent him to a
more distinguished brother. The latter
doctor treated him until Thursday morn-
ing, confning the exercise of his profess
sional skill, however, to the work Of push
ing the teeth down the throat, with the
purpose Of having them pass into the
stomach. The teeth refused to entirely go
down, and, wild with pain and weak with
fortnight's absolute fasting, MCGOWAN
sought out DIR. Bernays 1t was Bernays,
with corps of assistants, who surrounded
MCGOWAN when Globe Democrat repre-
sentative was ushered into the house yes
terday morning.
Selecting the proper instrument, DR..
Bernays, at exactly l0:O5 made an incision
three inches in length along the anterior
border OF the sterno- cleido mas toldeus
muscles In the left side, or, in other words,
he cut q three inch cash at the bottom OF
the neck, just above the breast bone and
along the line of the collar-bone. Then
picking up blunt, pointed dlssector the
doctor inserted it in the wound and pushed
important blood vessels aside to the left,
and the trachea and thyroid gland to the
right. The oesophagus then being exposed,
the doctor inserted his finger and an
nounced that he distinctly felt the plate
and the teeth. He opened the oesophagus
very slightly, introduced blunt, pointed
knife and enlarged the opening sufficiently
to extract the teeth. As the plate came 10
light the greatest enthusiasm was mani
Tested by the spectators, each of whom ex-
amined the ugly body which had SO nearly
cost the man his life. Dipping the sponge
In basin OF water, the little doctor began
the work Of cleansing the wound and sew
ing together the skin that had been sepa-
rated by the knife. Before clos
ing the wound rubber tube was placed In
II for drainage purposes. DIR. Bernays
then smartly raped the patient ON the
cheek once or twice and aroused him
from the stupefaction the chloroform had
placed him in. A CLEAN Of intelligence
shot across the dull yes as the doctor held
the teeth before them, and the mouth
broke into grim smile. "He's all right
now; put him to bed," said he. The
patient had besn lying on table, and, In
deed, he seemed to be all right, for he
walked a few steps alone. Before being
placed In bed he was given glass of milk,
a part OF which he swallowed. Some Of
the milk escaped through the severed
esophagus and dripped through the rub
ber drainage-tube.
1t was very daring operation, and one
Of the doctors present said that few men
could have done 1t. The difficulty lay In
the fact that all the important arteries
and blood vessels are In he throat The
operation has n sver before been performed
in this city, and but seldom In the United
States. It will, therefore, be read With
interest by all inter ,sted in surgery. Il
was concluded at l0:3O, the tlr occupied
having been exactly twenty-five min utes.
The quantity of blood lost was less than
two ounces.