2. If you attempt to move it you find it will no longer move as a joint does, but is stiff.
3. There is great pain and rapid swelling usually.
4. There may or may not be black and blue spots around the joint.
Treatment—Send for a doctor at once. While waiting for the doctor, place the patient in the easiest position possible, and apply hot or cold cloths, frequently changed, to the injured part.
In dislocation of the jaw it may be necessary for someone to try to replace it before the doctor arrives. The mouth is open and the jaw fixed. The patient may even tell you he has felt the jaw slip out of its socket. Wrap your thumbs in cloth to prevent biting when the jaw snaps back in place. Place the thumbs on the tops of the lower teeth on each side, with the fingers outside, and push firmly down until the head of the bone can slip over the edge of the socket into place. As you feel the bone slipping into place, slide your thumbs out to the inner side of the cheek to prevent biting when the jaws snap together with the reducing of the dislocation.
(b) Fractures—Broken bones—There are two classes of fractures:
1. Simple—In a simple fracture the bone is broken, but the skin is not broken; that is, there is no outward wound.
2. Compound—In a compound fracture not only is the bone broken, but the jagged ends pierce through the skin and form an open wound. This makes it more dangerous as the possibility of infection by germs at the time of the accident, or afterward, is added to the difficulty of the fracture.
Symptoms—As in dislocation, you should be familiar with the main symptoms of a broken bone.
1. When you look at the injured part it may or may not look like its mate on the other side. In the more severe fractures it usually does not.