Another remedy which the author seems to have a predilection for is oil of vitriol. When a tooth shows a carious perforation, he applies inside it, by means of a split feather, a drop of oil of vitriol, which, says he, causes the fall of the tooth after a few days.
Elsewhere he says that “sometimes worms are produced in carious teeth; to kill them a drop of oil of vitriol is an excellent remedy; and this at the same time cures the decay of the tooth and takes away the sensibility of the nerve.”
This passage does not agree very well with the preceding one, according to which oil of vitriol would act much more radically by causing the tooth to fall out altogether. But we will not take exception to so small a matter; so much the more, as the author, if he were still alive, might perhaps show us by some subtle distinction that the contradiction alluded to is only an apparent one!
To free the teeth from tartar, Heurn likewise counsels oil of vitriol, diluted, however, with other liquids.
A tooth must not be sacrificed excepting when it is loose and attacked by incipient necrosis, so as to leave no hope of arresting the putrefactive process. It is then our duty, says Heurn, to remove the tooth without causing much pain. For this purpose, after the tooth has been separated all around from the gums, it must be raised somewhat from the alveolus; then it must be sprinkled with powder of euphorbia, or a paste made with flour and the juice of the tithymalus must be applied around it, taking care, however, to cover the neighboring teeth with wax. After two or three days the tooth will be so loose that it can be pulled out very easily with the fingers or with a pair of pincers.
Dental surgery properly so called has been entirely neglected by Heurn. He was perhaps so persuaded of the efficacy of the above-mentioned remedies as to believe that every other species of intervention was useless. On the contrary, he does not abstain from speaking very seriously of the miraculous virtues of certain remedies (serpent scales, dog’s teeth, etc.); and tells us, among other things, that the broth made from a frog, when held for a length of time in the mouth, soothes dental pains, whatever be the causes from which they originate. One would seem to have gone back again to the days of Pliny!
THE STORY OF THE GOLDEN TOOTH.
In 1593 a rumor spread throughout Germany of a great marvel that had appeared at Schweidnitz in Silesia: a golden tooth had erupted in the mouth of a child aged seven years, which, more precisely designated, was the first large molar on the left of the lower jaw.
In our days news of such a kind would be immediately qualified, and universally held to be an imposture. But three centuries ago the most marvellous and unlikely things were easily believed in, often even by the learned; and, therefore, the fact alluded to was taken into serious consideration, so much so that for a long time many learned pamphlets and dissertations were written concerning it.
Jacob Horst, Physician and Professor of Medicine at the Julius University in Helmstadt, published, in 1595, a very singular book on the golden tooth of the Silesian child.[327] Without raising any doubt as to the reality of the fact, he maintained that the phenomenon was produced from the effect partly of natural and partly of supernatural causes, in relation with the constellation under which the child was born. On the day of its birth, that is, December 22, 1585, the sun was in conjunction with Saturn in the sign of Aries. In consequence of this circumstance the nutritive force had developed marvellously on account of the increase in heat, and consequently, instead of osseous substance, golden matter had been secreted!