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The Teeth: Renew

Saturate a bit of cotton with this and crowd into the cavity. Renew frequently. But if the tooth is ulcerated, saturate the cotton and place it on the gum. Meantime soak a small piece of absorbent cotton in chloroform and insert it loosely in the ear on the affected side. Renew from time to time. Care, of course, must be taken not to be overcome by the fumes of the chloroform.

Or mix 1 dram of finely powdered alum with 3 drams of nitrous spirit of ether. Apply to the cavity on a piece of cotton.

Or mix equal parts of salt and alum with just enough water to dissolve them, saturate a bit of cotton and insert in the cavity. Renew frequently. Or place ounce of carbolic acid in a glass bottle and melt by placing the bottle in hot water. Add ounce of collodium, saturate a bit of cotton and insert in the cavity, but do not let this come in contact with the inside of the mouth, as the carbolic acid will burn wherever it touches.

On mix 5 grains of opium, 5 grains of extract of henbane, 3 drams of oil of cloves, 10 grains of extract of belladonna with powdered pellitory into a stiff paste and fill the cavity with this.

Or saturate a bit of cotton with a solution of ammonia and insert. Or insert cotton saturated with camphor dissolved in turpentine.

Or, with great care, touch the inside of the cavity with the point of a pencil of lunar caustic. Protect all but the point of the caustic by means of a cloth or otherwise, and carefully hold the lips and face away from the parts while the application is being made.

Or mix 44 ounces of alcohol, 2 drams of camphor, 2 scruples of opium, 3 drams of oil of cloves, ounce of bruised pellitory. Let stand a week or 10 days and strain. Rub on the outside of the face or in very small quantities on the gum, or insert in the cavity on cotton.

Or mix 1 ounce each of ginger, cloves, and camphor. Grind to powder in a mortar, add 4 ounces of tincture of opium, 16 ounces of pure soft water, let stand a week or 10 days and strain. Apply as above.

Or dissolve in alcohol 5 grains of opium, 5 grains of camphor, 1 dram of oil of cloves, 1 dram of oil of cajeput. Apply to the cavity on cotton.

Or place in a glass bottle 1 ounce of creosote and add dram of sulphate of morphia. Let stand until the solution is clear, then add 3 ounces of chloroform. Apply to the cavity on cotton.

Or rub to powder in a mortar dram of chlorate hydrate, 1 grain of sulphate of morphia, & drams of camphor until they liquefy. Add 1 dram of oil of peppermint. Apply on cotton.

Or mix 10 drops each of camphorated oil, carbolic acid, creosote, chloroform, oil of peppermint, oil of cloves. Apply to the cavity on cotton.

In addition to the above, toothache will usually be relieved by applying to the face any poultice having the property of retaining heat, or resting the face on a hot-water bottle, soapstone, or common red brick covered with flannel.

Dental Work. - Teeth should never be pulled unless it is absolutely necessary. And this will not often be the case if the warning given by sensitiveness of the tooth, or by toothache, is heeded in season. The loss of the tooth usually renders the corresponding tooth on the opposite jaw useless for chewing. It also impairs proper pronunciation in speech.

Always consult the best dentists available and do not put too much confidence in the men who advertise cheap or painless dentistry. When the pulp or nerve of the tooth is affected it should be deadened and completely removed, and the root canal should be thoroughly cleaned out. This cannot be done properly without some pain. And if the operation is painless there is ground for suspicion that it may not have been thorough. Once the cavity and roots have been thoroughly cleaned and filled by a competent dentist, all trouble with that tooth will be at an end. The judgment of a dentist should be taken as to what sort of filling should be employed in any tooth. But all cavities should be filled promptly and properly, otherwise stomach troubles are sure to follow.

Artificial Teeth. -The progress of modern dentistry is nowhere more apparent than in the cheapness and perfection with which lost teeth can be replaced. Sometimes when the crown of the tooth is broken, it can be covered with an artificial crown, and the loss of one or more teeth can THE TEETH sometimes be repaired by a bridge consisting of several crowns anchored to two or three adjacent roots. All lost teeth, whether in the front or back part of the mouth, should be, on the ground of health, replaced at the earliest possible moment. Artificial teeth should be kept perfectly clean.

And plates should be removed at night and placed in an antiseptic solution, such as listerine or boric acid. Temporary Filling for Teeth. - First cleanse the cavity by using a bit of cotton at the end of a toothpick. Dip this in an antiseptic solution, as boric acid in water. Rinse out the cavity with the same, or a solution of peroxide of hydrogen, by means of a small glass or rubber syringe. Drop a small piece of gutta-percha into boiling water. Cut off with a penknife sufficient to fill the cavity and press it in the tooth with an orange stick or a piece of soft pine wood whittled to convenient size and shape. After filling the cavity, remove carefully any guttapercha that may adhere to the outside of the tooth; and fill the mouth with cold water several times until the gutta-percha hardens.

Or melt a small piece of guttapercha at the end of a wire by moistening in boiling water or holding over a hot stove or other heated surface, and insert while warm. Dentists' Amalgam for Filling Teeth.-Gold, 1 part, mercury, 8 parts, melted together with gentle heat and poured while melted into cold water.

Or dissolve 24 parts of powdered mastic in 1 part of ether and mix to a stiff paste with powdered alum.

Or melt together equal quantities of tin foil and mercury and when cold enough to bear the hands, knead a small quantity with the fingers and insert quickly before it hardens.

Or melt together 1 part of cadmium, 2 parts of tin. Allow the resulting alloy to harden, reduce to filings and add sufficient mercury with gentle heat to make a fluid amalgam. Squeeze out any excess of mercury through leather. Knead up the solid remnant with the fingers and fill the cavity with this.

Or make a fluid amalgam of either gold or silver with mercury. Squeeze out the excess of mercury through leather and use the residue.

Or for a quick, cheap, and handy amalgam, mix when required for use 20 grains of fine zinc filings, 40 grains of mercury.

Or amalgamate with quicksilver 6 parts of zinc, 21 parts of tin, 73 parts of silver.

Or melt together 1 part of powdered gold, 3 parts of silver; add 2 parts of tin, allow to cool and harden; reduce to fine filings and mix with an equal quantity of pure mercury when required for use.

Or make into a paste with equal parts of quickly drying copal and mastic varnish 1 part of gypsum, 1 part of powdered porcelain, 1 part of iron filings.

Or amalgamate 2 parts of steel filings with 4 parts of quicksilver.

Dentists' Nerve Paste. -The substance used by dentists to kill the nerve is arsenic in very minute quantities.

Mix 1 part of arsenic with 2 parts of rose pink and apply on a bit of cotton moistened with creosote. Remove after 3 or 4 hours and wash out the cavity with water containing an antiseptic, as boric acid.

Mix 15 grains of arsenious acid and 10 grains of sulphate of morphia with creosote to a paste, and apply on cotton; but this should never be done without having the nerve immediately removed by a competent dentist. Otherwise the nerve pulp in the roots of the tooth will decay and will form an ulcer, which will work through the gum and sometimes through the face and continue to discharge until properly treated. Hence work of this sort should be intrusted only to a competent dentist.