The herald., 1896-02-24
Thoughts Coming to Patients in
the Chair
HOW NERVES ARE KILLED
And How, ia Some Cases, They Reflfse
TO Die
The Thousand and Oae Tools the Operator
Uses on His vlctm--Dying With
Its Boots On

am having nerve killed, and it is
dying with Its boots on.
Herbert Spencer, Ribot and other emil
nent collectors of scientific curios devote
much discourse to explaining the connec-
tion between ideas and the nerves.
was about to say l know Of no place
in tho world where so much illustrative
data can be obtained in brief time as in
a dentist chair.
For example, was lying with my head
thrown back and my mouth wido open so
as to let the sunlight into the cavities of
the grinder when l remembered reading
in the "Anabasis' at college how some Per-
sian king had impressed bis power and
mightiness on captured rival after the
manner of the Persians by covering his
face with honey so as to attract all the
stinging insects in which the region
abounds, and then having him tied out in
tho blazing sun. l struggled with the
"Anabasis' u good many years ago, and
names and dates are hazy. Meanwhile
this pleasant story had never once occurred
to me until the dentist brought it back.
So your dentist is great extractor Of
old rooted ideas.
Every one who has had u tooth ground
out has experienced that feeling of appre-
hension that the postiferous little thing
which goes whirling about like n planet
in it's orbit, might at any moment break
through. While I was undergoing tho
process passage from tho opening pages
of Carlyles 'French Revolution" kept
following in its track. The passagSrefers
to Louis XVI and Marie AntoinetiS, who
had Just been crowned. "Poor creatures,
dancing your frail life minuet over bot
tomlcss divided from you by n film!"
what is the name of that?" inquired
when he had removed the instrument
from my mouth.
Bur" lie replied.
"And this?" indicating the rubber
sheet arrangements which had been fas-
tened across my lower jaw.
"Dam, said he.
"Thanks!' said I.
Then I came up, but without smiling,
for other rounds. He was just passing tho
second quarter for the third time when 1
felt sharp twinge.
"Sensitiye?' ho inquired, with the tone
of one who feels real interest. replied
that it was, and he said the nerve would
have to bo killed. This didn' sound pleas
ant, although felt that tho nerve perhaps
deserved it. He took u little piece of cot
ton, put what he told me was arsenious
ncid on it, applied it to the point of expo
sure and then filled up <he 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 I
came away how long IL took nervo to die.
He said from "a hours to ten days; the
average Was about Is hours.
He had case onco in which it had taken
SIX months. Every weapon known to den
tai warfare was employed against this
nerve, but 1t fought with the desperation
Of a member of the Old Guard of Waterloo.
Finally even the dental heart was touched
by such heroism, and he commuted the
sentence to Imprisonment for life The
cavity was filled with cement, and the
nerve, after some further months of this
enforced confinement, uocumbed-literal-
ly buried alive.
There is another operation which he de-
scribed as ''nico'' (why do dentists, doc
tors and surgeons always speak of their
most painful performances as "nice?"),
which consists in sandbagging nerve and
drawing it out Of its cavity before it recov.
ers consciousness. This is performed most
readily in front teeth---in fact, I believe 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 tho other nerves took it up.
The nerves Of the teeth arc very clannish,
and an injury to one becomes the affair Of
all. Most of mine took turns about in an
noying me, tho wounded member of the
tribe in the meantime keeping up a steady
ache, not loud, but deep.
The nerves are n separate state within
the body. They reserve to themselves all
the rights not delegated to the general gov
ernment. 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,
] consented readily enough, but ever since
he began operations there have been al
most constant riot and disorder in the
dental nervo system.
A nerve is as stubborn as tho twelfth
Juror holding out until the bitter end
against all the other members of the sys-
tenn.
asked the dentist how many different
instruments were used in filling teeth.
He said there were so many he couldn't
tell offhand.
To begin with, there are several differ
ont kinds of burs. These include the
fssure 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 a section from a cat
aloguo of the torture chamber in tho Lon
don Tower museum.
OF battleax excavators there are "a vari-
cites. These are for opening into cavities,
.cutting down crown surfaces and for work
in the interior of cavities.
Spoon exoavators have long curves by
which the cervical wall may be reached
while following the shape of the tooth
Chicago Tribune.