For the past few days ? weeks? I've been experiencing something unusual in my mouth. There is an odd taste, and I wonder about my breath. I've been using gum to 'cover' it, but that acidic taste is there continuously. Yesterday I noticed my jaw was sore. In November last year I had a root canal done in preparation for a crown. Actually, though time consuming, my endodontist makes it relatively painless. Before I could have the crown made, I had a stroke, and couldn't tolerate anything in my mouth (like a toothbrush, toothpaste, or floss). Indeed, it was tricky to swallow food, but found if I ate slow with small bites, I could do it without gagging or choking. Then came Wendell's heart surgery, and I put off the crown again, but planning to get it done when our finances were more stable. In the mean time, I am wondering if the temporary filling has come out? I'm not even sure what it looks like. So the tooth itself doesn't hurt, but the gum and jaw under and around it are somewhat uncomfortable. I keep looking at it and wondering if I'm seeing swelling too? I really can't tell. Today I've called the dentist to take a look at what I'm dealing with and to help me get it under control so we can finish the work from November.
I live in a wonderful time. In the 1800s, it would have been much more difficult to deal with my dental problems.
I started looking into dentistry back in that time, and here's what I found:
"The fearsome instruments designed to extract teeth usually wrenched them out sideways, once they had been loosened by careful hammering. Pulling perpendicularly without damaging the surrounding teeth and gums seems to have been beyond an eighteenth-century dentist, even when he flexed his muscles, put the patient on the floor, and took his – the patient’s – head between his – the dentist’s – knees."
Now, I haven't had any extractions since I was in high school, but this certainly sounds barbaric, and nothing akin to going into Dr Kim's office and being seated in an ergonomically correct chair with a cushion under my legs to help support my back while being handed the TV remote so I can amuse myself while she operates painlessly on my oral cavity.
"Anaesthesia was not established as a major tool of dentistry at this time. General anaesthesia was introduced to medical practice in the 1840s, and it was from there extended to dental practice. I suppose a man of this time might have resorted to strong drink if he knew he was to have an extraction, but a lady could never do this."
Though as a child I have a memory of receiving Ether for an extraction, and too, as a teen having my jaw injected with a LOT of pain involved, my current dentist has made life more simple. She applies a topical anesthetic before inserting the needle, and she is a master at giving the injection so I feel no pain whatsoever as she delivers the dose. The thought of a shot of whiskey beforehand~ medicinally, of course~ has never crossed my mind.
"an interesting light is thrown on the subject by one of Lord Chesterfield’s letters to his son, in which he urges him to wash his teeth first thing every morning with a soft sponge and warm water for 4 or 5 minutes. He does not recommend the use of any hard substance such as sticks or even a dentifrice since they damage the gums and destroy the ‘varnish of the teeth’."
"Chesterfield was referring to the fact that there were in this period dentifrices on the market, which – just as today – made extravagant claims as to brilliance and whiteness. They also however (unlike today) contained substances which destroyed the enamel. Dentifrices of this era also, indeed, claimed to fasten in loose teeth, an improbable but seductive claim in an era of rampant scurvy and pyorrhoea. Fouchard, the contemporary French dentist renowned for his skill in fashioning false teeth, recommended one’s own urine for cleaning the teeth. Others recommended a touch of gunpowder every now and then, and Horace Walpole put his faith in a lump of alum dissolved in the mouth as a sure expedient to keep teeth strong – as indeed his were. For a toothbrush, it was common practice to bash the end of a wooden stick and scour the teeth with this, although it had the disadvantage of leaving behind splinters. The wealthy had delicate little gold-handled toothbrushes, sometimes with replaceable heads. The nearest thing to dental floss in the 18th century was toothpicks made of quills."
I am so thankful for my ORAL-B and my waxed dental tape!
"When teeth decayed, the decayed part was scraped away with scalpels and files, and any exposed nerve cauterised with a red-hot wire before the filling was inserted.... Gold was certainly superior to other filling materials used then, such as lead, pitch and beeswax. Beeswax presumably would be useless in the long run, and both pitch and particularly lead, while not only tasting quite horrible, must have been quite dangerous to the system – although this may not have been known at the time. There was also a type of porcelain filling used, which appeared quite effective but which had an unfortunate side-effect. It was so acidic that it killed the nerve of the tooth on impact, so that the wearer eventually ended up with a lovely white filling embedded in a black tooth. Teeth were filed then, as now, presumably to improve the bite – or perhaps to effect a regularity of appearance."
Well, I have to say again.. I'm thankful to be living in this century of advancements in dentistry.
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