Strobelberger, like Heurnius, is of opinion that for the cure of dental pains it is necessary to have recourse to doctors rather than to dentispices, or tooth drawers (Chapter XII); however, he does not consider the calling of the latter absolutely useless; indeed, he expressly advises (page 174) that they should be applied to for the instrumental extraction of the teeth, it not being possible for such operations to be carried out well and without danger except by those who, through great practice, have acquired the necessary skill in the use of the relative instruments. He refers to the words of Hollerius, already quoted, as to the falseness of the opinion that fumigations made with the seeds of hyoscyamus cause the worms to fall out of the teeth. Notwithstanding, he does not in the least doubt the existence of the worms themselves; and he, like Heurnius, recommends killing them with oil of vitriol or with a decoction made from a frog cooked in water and vinegar (Chapter XXXIII). From this, one clearly perceives that the doubts expressed by Hollerius about the existence of dental worms had not in the least shaken the popular belief in them. Nor, indeed, could it be otherwise when one considers that Hollerius, as we duly noted in another place, had not the courage either decidedly to deny the existence of dental worms, or to formulate in a clear and explicit manner the doubts which had arisen in his mind on this subject. We are, therefore, unable to recognize the merit which Linderer[334] and Geist-Jacobi[335] have attributed to this author, viz., that of having effectually affirmed the non-existence of dental worms.
Among innumerable vegetable remedies recommended by Strobelberger against odontalgia, we will only cite two American plants, the guaiacum and the tobacco-plant (Nicotiana tabacum). Of the decoction of guaiacum (Chapter XXXVI) the author says that, used as a mouth wash, it has the triple virtue of strengthening the gums, of preventing putrefactive processes, and of calming toothache.
The anti-odontalgic virtue of tobacco is mentioned (Chapter XXXVIII) for the first time in this work, but, as we learn from Strobelberger himself, Heurnius has already obtained, experimenting in his own case, the cessation of an attack of toothache by holding in his mouth spoonfuls of tepid decoction of nicotiana for the space of two hours.
The same soothing effects may be obtained, says the author, from the smoke of tobacco; but he attributes this not to the narcotic action of the remedy, but to the fact that it causes the flow of much saliva from the mouth and mucus from the nostrils, through which the morbid humors which provoke the pain are eliminated.
To those suffering from odontalgia, says Strobelberger (Chapter XL), the internal use of certain mineral waters is also of value, and especially that of the waters of Carlsbad (Thermæ Carolinæ). Like many other remedies, they are useful in rendering the secretions more active, favoring thus the elimination of morbid substances from the blood. For the same object of purifying the organism and dispersing the accumulated humors causing the pain, many other means of cure were in usage, such as aperients (Chapter XXV), phlebotomy, and arteriotomy (Chapter XXVIII), leeching (Chapter XXIX), scarification and cupping (Chapter XXX), blistering and cauterizing (Chapter XXXI), masticatories, viz., substances intended to be chewed for the purpose of exciting salivary secretion (Chapter XXVI), sternutatories, viz., substances which provoke sneezing (Chapter XXVII), and so forth.
Like Arculanus, Strobelberger makes a distinction between the real and the false cure of odontalgia (cura vera et cura mendosa). This latter he also subdivides in palliative cure and vain cure (Chapter LV). The palliative cure is constituted by the use of narcotics and stupefying remedies (Chapter LVI), whilst the vain cure is represented by certain remedies which he calls “fanatical” or rather “fantastical.” The vain cure, in its turn, undergoes a new distinction, since it comprises three species of remedies, that is, the wearing of amulets, the superstitious remedies, and the ridiculous remedies. Indeed, this last apellation might also fittingly be applied to the preceding ones!
One would be inclined to believe that the author who qualifies these remedies as vain, fantastic, superstitious, and ridiculous was a thoroughly unprejudiced man; however, this is not so. Strobelberger, too, had to pay his tribute to the dominating prejudices of his century; this manifestly appears from various passages in his book, and especially from the Chapters XVI and XLIV. The first of these bears the following title: “How to procure immunity from toothache,” and Strobelberger therein asserts in all seriousness, basing his assertion on the authority of Rhazes, that “if the canine tooth of a lion be suspended to a child’s neck before the milk teeth fall out and during the eruption of the second teeth, it will secure the child immunity from dental pains.” In Chapter XLIV the author speaks of those animals whose teeth are useful to man as remedies against toothache, and reiterates—lending, as it seems, perfect faith thereto—various prejudices that are found in Pliny and other writers of antiquity.
As to the remedies which Strobelberger recognizes as vain—that is, as devoid of real curative virtue—he remarks that they may nevertheless be useful by acting powerfully on the imagination of the sufferer, thus causing, in fact, the cessation of pain (Chapter LVII). This clear and explicit affirmation of the efficacy of suggestion in a book published 270 years ago is certainly not without interest.
If, says Strobelberger, a place is to be accorded, in dental therapeutics, to the vain remedies, among these, amulets deserve the preference; and the best accredited amulet is the root of the lepidium, already recommended by Dioscorides, who affirms that if it be hung around the neck of the sufferer it will cause the pain to cease.
One of the superstitious remedies to be used against this affection (Chapter LVIII), consists in touching the aching tooth with the tooth of a dead person, and afterward greasing it with horse’s marrow.