Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-02-01
LIFTING THE Lid.

DR.. Leo Ricen, M. d., Portland, Ore.
gon says: "There is a considerable
number of operative cases, apparently
clean to begin with, and handled with
faultless technic by skilled surgeons.
which terminate with fatal infection
because the PATIENT IS buccol (mouth)
cavity was overlooked and the patient
was allowed to go ON the operating tab
lie with septic mouth. And let me say
that, unless we deal with an emergency
case, it is our imperative duty to free
the mouths Of our patients of pus before
we allow them to undergo serious op
GRAFTON. The surgeon who is so an
xious to operate and who sends his pa
tient to the surgery without a cereful
examination of the patients mouth is,
in my opinion, guilty of criminal negli
'gence. IN. w. Dental Journal.
In other words, this noted medi, ii
authority says: There are many deaths
due to infection from diseased mouths,
being carried in the blood to the
wounds made by the surgeon s knife.
Did you ever hear of patient s mouth
being freed of disease before he is al
lowed to go on the operating tablet In
this connection | would suggest an in
vestigation of the awful mouth condi-
tions, of scores of people who have un-
dergone serious operations.
In addition to protecting the patient
against fatal infection, it ought to be
evident to any doctor that his patient
would have a much better chance to re-
cover from a surgical operation if a
large part of his resisting powers were
not needed to fight bad mouth infec-
tion at the same time.
The majority of major surgical opera
tions are abdominal. According to our
greatest medical authorities, the con-
ditions that are used as an excuse for
these operations are mainly due to
mouth infection. If the mouth infec.
tion was corrected first many Of these
patients would recover their health with
out the hospital operation.
So the only danger of following DR..
Ricen's suggestion would be that of
losing the fee for one or more operat- |
ions.
What have you gained, Mr.. Doctor,
by removing an ulcer of the stomach |
caused by mouth infection, if the mouth |
is not also removedf Perhaps
5000. What has your patient gainedf
Is it not perfectly reasonable to expect
This same mouth infection to cause an
,ther ulcer or diseased condition in 9th
,r y. rts fthe bodyi Is it any wonder
hot one operation is so frequently fol
owed by another, when the cause of
hc first is not removeds
Did you ever stop to think that sur
yictl operations have increased in mum
Der in proportion to the increase in
he nun.bcr Of dcac teeth left in peo'
pies mouths and number Of crowns
md bridges attached to teethf In 9TH
II words, tho dtatists Of the country
,rc building Tie .ncubators for the dis
eases that are keeping the surgeons
busy while it is being eontended thst
more hospitals would solve the prob.
lem of human ills. Give the people all
tho silaple truths concerning disease,
then our present hospitals win bo ade
quate.
Fortunately, many of our people are
getting light and having the mouth
freed Of disease in time to regain health
without surgery. / have q number of |
patients who have been freed from such |
troubles as rheumatism, intestinal dis.
orders, general i'll health, etc, by cur
ing. diseased gums snd extracting in, !
fected teeth. 1t is a pleasure to refer
anyone to these people. operate with
out pain by the latest scientific meth |
DDS; thus giving you better dentistry
than otherwise possible, and making it
a pleasure for you to have me do your
work.
G. HARTLEY
4n7 No...A O. nk. ~