The author also makes the remark[453] that sometimes, in scraping a carious cavity, “it is not possible to avoid uncovering and touching the nerve with the instruments; one becomes aware of this by the pain caused, and better still by a little blood issuing from the dental vessels.” In such cases, Fauchard advises stopping of the tooth immediately, for if it be carried out with delay, it is sure to be followed by inflammation and great pain, rendering necessary the removal of the lead or even the extraction of the tooth.
A gum lancet and two elevators, the second of which is destined to act from inside outward (Fauchard).
Cauterization of the teeth[454] continued to be much used in Fauchard’s time, and this is very easily explainable when one considers that there was not then any other means of destroying the dental pulp. In making use of the actual cautery, the immediate end in view was to cause the cessation of obstinate toothache. “When the teeth give great pain and no relief is to be derived from the use of other remedies, one ought to cauterize the caries after having removed the extraneous substances that may eventually be found in the carious cavity. After the cauterization one scrapes the cavity and fills it up with cotton-wool soaked in oil of cinnamon. Later on one stops the tooth.”[455]
An extracting instrument called by Fauchard lever or tirtoire, and the handle of a pelican without the hooks.
The chapter in which Fauchard treats of the correction of dental irregularities is of particular interest. In speaking of his observations, we have already seen that in this field also he knew how to obtain splendid and admirable results. He, nevertheless, made use of the most simple means—the file, pressure with the fingers, common threads or silk ones, little plates of silver or gold. At times, for straightening teeth, he made use of the pelican and the straight pincers, afterward tying the teeth in their normal position. He rarely had recourse to extraction as a means of carrying out dental corrections.[456]