558. To whiten the Teeth.—Mix honey with finely powdered charcoal, and use the paste as a dentifrice.
559. Wash for the Teeth.—One ounce of myrrh, powdered, and dissolved in one pint of spirits of wine. A little of this dropped on the tooth-brush, is excellent for the teeth and gums.
560. To remove Tartar from the Teeth.—1st. The use of the tooth-brush night and morning, and at least rinsing the mouth after every meal at which animal food is taken. 2d. Once daily run the brush lightly two or three times over soap, then dip it in salt, and with it clean the teeth, working the brush up and down rather than—or as well as—backwards and forwards. This is a cheap, safe, and effectual dentifrice. 3d. Eat freely of common cress—the sort used with mustard, under the name of small salad; it must be eaten with salt only. If thus used two or three days in succession, it will effectually loosen tartar, even of long standing. The same effect is produced, though perhaps not in an equal degree, by eating strawberries and raspberries, especially the former. A leaf of common green sage rubbed on the teeth, is useful both in cleansing and polishing, and probably many other common vegetable productions also.
561. Obs. Soap is not at all a desirable medium for cleaning the teeth, as, though it may whiten for the time, the alkaline process destroys the enamel.
562. To fill a decayed Tooth.—When a tooth is too much decayed to be filled by a dentist, or the person is at a distance from one, gutta percha will be found an useful expedient. Drop a small piece of this substance in boiling water, then taking off as much as will probably fill the tooth nearly level, press it, while soft, into the cavity. Then hold cold water in the mouth on that side, to harden it. It has been known to preserve a tooth two years at least, and keeps it free from cold.