Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-01-19

New York City, Jan. 1l.-Every lew
years or SO, a new theory dawns glorl-
ously like a new star upon the medical
horizon. Sometimes it is a construct
| that IL we only consume enough vita
mines health is ours, but more often
| than not it is a destructive theory,
which attacks some obscure and APP
parently unimportant portion Of the
human anatomy as being responsible
for all the physical ills Of the race.
Thus, hundred years ago, an ex-
cess supply of blood was supposed to
be the cause of all complaints, and
the way to cure anything and every
thing was by the bleeding process. In
ions have changed with greater rapidity
and the role Of anatomical arch villain
has shifted from the appendix to the
tonsls and from the tonsils to the
teeth. Now it looks as if it might be
enthusiastically passed on to the duet
less glands, but for the present it is
still securely in the possession of the
teeth.
1t would be interesting to know how
many million teeth have been sacrificed
during the past few years and why, but
Unfortunately no complete statistics are
available. Personally, nearly everyone
least one strong, full-grown tooth to
the cause Of health, but we have yet
to hear of any swift and miraculous
cures. Three years ago, when the
theory Of focal infection was still COM
paratively new, We remember that we
were greatly impressed by the enthu-
siasm Of woman dentist who had
just discovered that her sister had
three. or maybe four, infected teeth.
The girl had had a long series Of tu-
bercular glands, and here, Of course,
quickly pulled, the family breathed a
sigh of relief, and the girl gradually
improved in weight and strength.
Here" thought everybody, us living
proof of the new theory" But, not
long ago, we learned that the young
woman was again in hospital suffer-
ing with another tubercular gland.
Teeth and Nerves
In another case, suburban resident
afflicted with an over abundance OF
leisure and a nervous malady, had his
teeth Nrayed, hoping, to find that an
infected tooth was the cause of his
ray were most satisfactory. They not
only showed that he had an infected
tooth. but that it was a tooth with
wayward tendencies that had grown
upward instead of downward in it's ex-
IRENE youth and was now lodged be-
hind his nose. He remembered, he
told the dentist, that the tooth had
never appeared when it was expected
and that after few years Of patient
waiting he had acquired a pivot tooth
las substitute He Immediately under
went an operation and the offending or
gan was removed, after which, he was
assured, his extreme nervousness
would disappear. But it didn't, and
now he is suspicious of all medical the
cries. When it was suggested that he
try psychoanalysis, he replied bitterly
that he was through experimenting
with bunk
4 The majority of laymen, including
probably even this disappointed hypo-
chondriac. are able to see the danger
of focal infection, of course, and are
only too anxious to have it removed.
But they are losing their faith in tooth
pulling as a panacea for all Affections,
from epilepsy to tonsilitis.
Among the various ailments attribut-
ed to infection in the canals or aronnG
the roots Of the teeth, which the X-ray
alone can reveal, are tuberculosis
diseases of the kidneys, rheumatism
: partial blindness, partial deafness
neuritis, epilepsy. sciatica, persistent
headache, general 1assitude, insanity
some forms Of heart disease, such as
endocarditis, which is inflammation Of
the membrane lining the heart, ane
blood clots, which may plug the int
rior of blood vessels, causing paralysis
and DEATH