The National tribune., 1889-11-28
CHAPTER XLIII.
TooTUACHE-(continuedO,


TooTHACHE-( continued.
The progress of conservative surgery has
extended to all branches Of the medical art. A
hundred years ago a man could not break q toe
without being urged by n committee of surgi-
cal experts to have his foot amputated without
loss of time, and soldiers brought TO the hospital
tent with wounded hand could think them
selves lucky if they did not get the arm taken
off mt the elbow. Experience has since proved
that the restorative powers of nature have been
strangely moderated, and that in the course OF
half year even desperately lacerated limb
| Gas q hand crushed in cog wheel will read
just itself to something like decidedly useful
condition. Only in dentistry the rule of the
old "extirpation theory" managed to maintain
itself to the very middle of the 10Th century.
Long after amputaton," with without
chloroform had become deservedly unpopular,
even medical family friends would advise a
| victim of toothache TO have that old stump
| pulled right away and get done with it," Too
often, however that radical remedy by no
means proved the end of the trouble. The ner-
| vous torments, after being routed from one
stronghold, reopened hostilities in another, Of
| ten in tooth so slightly damaged that its de-
| cay had never caused any trouble before. The
| truth then began to dawn on tho patient that
| the supposed conclusive remedy had baen
merely a temporary suppression OF symptoms,
aud that the removal of the real cause must be
achieved by change of habits.
NATURAL VS.. ARTIFICIAL TEETH.
| But in other cases experience might rather
late reveal the additional fact that for nasticat-
| ing purposes one third-class stump is worth a
! complete set of artificial teeth after the most ap-
| proved pattern. Persons who buy such teeth
merely for exhibition purposes are apt to get
their moneys worth nowadays. All others are
pretty sure to admit their disappointment be-
| fore the end of the first week. How do you
| II IL % 4.
! friend; don't they really beat nature?"
| Well-yes, in some way" falters the proprie-
| tor of that paragon set; they are winter
than natural, and very easily cleaned; wonder
| fully even spaced, too, but -"
But what? don't they stick 2" ayes, they
can be kept in place after you know how, and
| you can take them out every evening after
| turning down the gas. but then" Then
what2" "Well, hope you will never have to
got n contrivance of that sort and try to use IL
for checing. Chewing, in earnest, mean, such
/ things as breadcrusts or apples that liked TO
! MUNICH In recess. For hash or ple-dumplngs
| they may do tolerably well, but chewing
| In that respect the best artificial set ever in
/ vented or inevitable, can indeed, not compare
] with a few well-rooted remnants of callous
/ stumps. l have known persons whose teeth,
with the exception Of the incsor5 and upper
| eye-teeth, had been worn out on both sides, but
| who somehow, had "outgrown their liability
| to tOothaches and used their dental relics with
an efficiency aud ease that might have made
| patron of the celuloid artist swallow his new
| SGT in fit of envy They could rapidly chew
not pears and biscuits only. but dried apples.
| green apples aud hunks of ernsty cornbread, and
would not have hesitated TO try their luck on
| English walnnts If you gave them time to choose
] their mode OF attack.
cALLous sTUMPs.
"But how guard against revival of tooth
| ache" it may be asked, or how manage to out
| grow it at ALP" Habits insuring a general Wig
| or Of constitution, will do great deal ia that
respect; abstinence from scalding- hot dishes
and beverages ESPECIALLY from sweet. super
heated coffee or tea will do more. But the
great natural specific for preventing the painful
| decay of teeth is q sparing use OF animal food.
| Naturalists have now and then called attention
| 10 the curious fact that herbvorous aud frugiv-
| orous animals in a state OF nature preserve their
| sound teeth to an extreme old age. while the
| carnivora, even in their outdoor freedom, are
liable TO lose their molars after the middle OF
life. Man eating tigers, says Sir Emerson Ten
nent Ia chief authority on the zoology of south
| crn Asia, contract their dreadful habit not
| from special prediction for human flesh. but
because their worn-out teeth make IL more and
more difficult for them to cope with vigorous
| animals, an unarmod Hindoo being aneasy prey
even for a toothless brute in possession OF lis
4
| OF African sportsmon. mentions similar facts IN
regard to the Natal lion. On one occasion, he
says he killed an old male that had lost almost
all his back teeth in both jaws, the molars and
pre-. molars being worn out close To the gums.
Now, IL is a suggestive circumstance that the
same kind of teeth are the first to decay in
carnivoroas specimens of the human race The
molars generally go first. the incisors next, while
the canine teeth Especially characteristic oil
purely carniyorous animals) last to the end, and
| often remain firm in the Jaws of hollow cheek ed
old men. The (iauehos of the South American
| Tampas, in spite of their extremely active mode
OF life, are martyrs to toothaehe, owing. almost
undoubtedly, to the fact that they subsst on a
nearly exclusive diet OF rank meat-ierked
beef. dried in the sun, and exhaling the per
fume of suublistered lanyard. In the com
| miszary stores of our Indian agencies tooth
| medicines" are in great demand and dentists
| do their most iourishing business not in candy
| eating Turkey, but in beefeatiug Old Eng
| land. Carries, contagious decay of the teeth,
| is In many eases undoubtedly hereditary, and
cannot be wholly prevented by the most dill.
gent use of the tooth brush but ahstemiousness
| ia the use of animal food can at least be war
| Tanted To make the progress Of decay slow
| aud painless one. IL would be worth while for
the benefit of humanity. to devise method for
| settling the question If consistent vegeiarians
are ever troubled with chronic toothaches.
| DIRECT REMEDIES.
In paroxysms OF toothache Opiates and eouu-
ter-irritatiou often afford immediate relief; the
pain, as il were, can be letbargiZed or else d l.
| verified from one nerve to the other. Persons
| kept awake in bed by n throbbing toothache
| eau often get the mischief under control by
maintaining steady pressure on the veins and
| nerves directly above or below the sensitive
point, and the external application of ice may
in some cases prove as effective as actual eau
terry. But all such expedients are at best tenn
porary, and apt 10 require constant repetition.
| much more permanent remedy is a resolute
last. Denutriton is more effective pain k Her
| in the long run, than any angsthetic, aud. more
over. does not imply the peril Of ugly after eff.
fects. by tho time consciousness of decided
! appette begins to border ON something like