The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-01-30
WITH THE DENTIST.
Thoughts that Come to One Strappcd
In the Chair.

How Nerves Are Killed and How They
Sometimes Refuse to Die-The Thousand
and One Tools the Operator Uses on His
victim-Bying With Its Boots On.
am having nerve killed, and 1t Is
dying with it's boots on.
Herbert Spencer, Ribot and other emf
nent collectors of scientific curios devote
much discourse to explaining the connec-
ton between ideas and the nerves.
was about to say l know Of no place
In the world where SO much illustrative
dentists chair.
For example, I was lying with my head
thrown back and my mouth wide open, SO
the grinder, when I remembered reading
in the "Anabasis" at college how some Per-
sian king had impressed his power and
mightiness on captured rival after the
manner of the Persians by covering his
face with honey SO as to attract all the
singing insects in which the region
abounds, and then having him tied out in
the blazing sun. 1 struggled with the
"Anabasis' good many years ago, and
names and dates are hazy. Meanwhile
tIlS pl6dSddU ouOly llctd 10fcI OuCo
to me until the dentist brought it back.
So your dentist is a great extractor of
old rooted ideas.
Every one who has had tooth ground
out has experienced that feeling of appre-
hension that the pestiferous little thing,
which goes whirling about like a planet
in Its orbit, might at any moment break
through. While l was undergoing the
of Carlyles French Revolution kept
following In its track. The passage refers
to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, who
had just been crowned "Poor creatures,
dancing your frail life minuet over bot
tomless divided from you by a 1flm!'
what is the name of that?" inquired
from my mouth.
bur-" he replied.
"And this?' Indicating the rubber
sheet arrangements which had been fas-
tened across my lower jaw.
DAM" said he.
"ThanksP' said /.
Then 1 came up, but without smiling,
for other rounds. He was just passing the
second quarter for the third time when
felt sharp twinge.
"Sensitive?" he inquired, with the tone
of one who feels real interest. replied
that it was, and he said the nerve would
have to be killed. This didn't sound pleas
ant, although felt that the nerve perhaps
deserved it. He took a little piece of cot
ton, put what he told me was arsenious
acid on it, applied it to the point of expo
sure and then filed up the cavity with
cotton coated with sandarac. So the bur
and the acid were the first day.
The vitality of nerves differs in different
individuals. ! asked the dentist before
came away how long 1t took nerve to die,
He said from "a hours to ten days; the
average was about 4S hours.
He had case once in which it had taken
six months. Every weapon known to den
tai warfare was employed against this
nerve, but it fought with the desperation
Of member Of the Old Guard of Waterloo
Finally even the dental heart was touched
by such heroism, and he committed the
sentence to imprisonment for life The
cavity was filled with cement, and the
nerve, after some further months of this
enforced confinement, uccumbed-literal-
ly buried alive.
There is another operation which he de-
scribed as 'nioe" (why do dentists, doo-
tors and surgeons always speak Of their
most painful performances as ''nice?n)
which consists in sandbagging nerve and
drawing it out of it's cavity before it recov-
ers consciousness. This is performed most
readily in front teeth-in fact, believe is
never employed in any other. A cut is
made in either side of the tooth, just as
glazier cuts pane of glass before break
ing it. Then the nipper is applied. The
force which breaks the tooth stuns the
nerve, which, as stated, is taken out at
once.
The dentist had said that the nerve
might give me little trouble. 1t did. Not
only so, but the other nerves took it up.
The nerves of the teeth are very clannish,
and an injury to one becomes the affair Of
all Most Of mine took turns about in an
noying me- the wounded member of the
tribe in the meantime keeping up steady
ache, not loud, but deep.
The nerves are a separate etate within
the body. They reserve to themselves all
the rights not delegated to the general gov
eminent. They manage their own affairs
and resent to the death any Importation of
federal forces to quell local disturbances.
When he said the nerve should be killed,
I consented readily enough, but ever since
u0 U6Sau Op6rdblOuS G10r0 nave D60u al
most constant riot and disorder in the
dental nerve system.
A nerve is as stubborn as the twelfth
juror, holding out until the bitter end
against all the other members Of the sys-
tenn.
1 asked the dentist how many different
instruments were used in filing teeth.
He said there were SO many he couldn't
tell offhand.
To begin with, there are several differ
emit kinds of burs. These include the
assure bur, the round bur, the wheel
bur and the bud bur. OF each of these
there are IA different sizes.
Then there are other instruments, list
of which sounds like section from cat
alogue of the torture chamber in the Lon
don Tower museum.
OF battleax excavators there are "a vari-
eties These are for opening into cavities,
cutting down crown surfaces and for work
IN the interior Of cavities.
Spoon excavators have long curves by