Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1916-04-13
DEATH MAY LURK
IN TEETH GUMS
OBSCURE BODILY DISEASES ARE
TRACED OFTEN TO oEFEc-
TIVE ROOTS.
Doctors Display Ignorance Frequent
IY In Treating Cases.

Self-defense requires the layman-
which Is a handy collective name for
us-to take notice of the new pro-
cedures of the dentists for amputat-
ing the abscessed roots of a tooth,
while leaving the tooth in place in
the gum, and fit for further service.
This was demonstrated" as they
say, at the Massa chusetts Dental so.
ciety, by DR.. Merritt. The best den-
lists in Boston and some other places
have been doing this interesting op.
Grafton for some time past; but 1t is
new to many dentists, and new to
most of US. knowledge of 1t Is OF
personal consequence to the layman,
also, because the layman Is confront
ed by advancing science with the job
of keeping tabs" TO a certain extent
on the science performance of his
medical and dental advisers. And
pus pockets at the roots of teeth
often difficult to detect and to deal
with-have sometimes such serious
consequences to general health that
IL the dentist is not on the watch, the
patient must needs supply the sus-
picion that will lead to his protection.
Pus produced at the root of tooth
and absorbed into, the system may
be responsible for variety Of rather
serious conditions besides Riggs dis
ease" of which more later. Arthritls,
rheumatism of the joints" with in
flammation in the joints, is so COM
mon consequence of this pus alb
sorption that any serious diagnostic
search for the causes of a particular
case of arthritis involves X-ray pic
lures OF the Jaws, which will disclose
the existence OF pus pockets at the
roots of teeth II they exist. If they
are there, the first step toward cur.
ing the arthritis is to clean out the
pus pockets-the doctor gives way
to the dentist.
very striking case presented at
the society meetings was that OF
woman who had practically lost the
use of her right arm, and who got no
benefit from cures" in Europe, or
from a variety OF other treatments.
Finally she was cured by an Ameri.
can dentist, who discovered by the
aid of the X-rays the existence OF a
pus pocket at the roots Of one of her
teeth. He amputated the roots OF
the tooth, destroyed the pus and the
patient recovered the use of her arm.
More striking, perhaps, was the
situation of another woman in whom
the absorbed pus from an undiscover'
ed tooth abscess caused condt
tion which was seriously diagnosed
as tuberculosis. She had for nearly
four months low fever, with the
temperature rising in the afternoon,
like that Of tuberculosis. She lost
weight and strength, and IL the tu-
berculosis expert who finally exam
fned her had been able TO find any
thing the matter with her lunSs-hc
didn't-she would apparently have
been a case for Arizona, After about
four months of this wasting fever
the case cleared up. Three months
after her tuberculosis" had run its
course and had come to an end
wholly without any special treatment
UeT utHllSl ulSIoNNlCu ii~h UPON Wv
upper gum, and at the back, so that
1t was almost hidden in the angle of
the teeth, the minute channel of an
extinct abscess Four months OF
wasting fever had been due to the
pus absorbed from a deep tooth root
abscess which had finally broken
through into the mouth, and with
this drainage had been overcome by
the body resistance.
Pus may form at the roots OF a
tooth without constituting a case Of
Riggs disease, which. as the boy said,
has peculiar little idiosyncrasies OF
its own" When tooth that has ap
parently been made all right with fill
ing and cleaning remains tender, i
should be X.rayed. on the suspicion
that there may be a pus pocket. II
there is the pus will show at the
root of the tooth as an area lighter
than the outline of the tooth itself
and usually the radiograph will show
that the surface of the tooth for some
distance up from the root has beer
eaten away. or "exfoliated." The
tooth may he firmly set in the gum
The simple procedure is to cu'
through the gum. cut off the ROOF
clean out the pus, polish off tht
denuded surfaces of the tooth, so n,
TO leave no microbes in minute cav
tiles of the deutine, and then to CLOSE
up the wound in the gum.-Bostoi
Transcript.