If there is a cavity, a small piece of cotton moistened with oil of cloves and packed well into it may give much relief.
Children and adults should make a bi-annual pilgrimage to the dentist, who seeks out beginning cavities, early treatment of which will prevent these dreadful aches and later ill health.
BURNS
Burns and scalds are not at all uncommon with children, whose eagerness to explore and desire to investigate often leads them into trouble.
1. The simple reddening of the skin—slight burns and sunburn—simply needs protecting oil, or equal parts of oil and lime water, and is to be covered with sterile gauze.
2. The burns which destroy the outer layer of the skin, producing a blister, are treated much as a wound would be treated. The blister, if larger than a half dollar, should be opened near the edge with a needle which has been passed through a flame. The serum should be pressed out and the parts protected by a piece of gutta-percha that has been disinfected with some antiseptic solution; this covering keeps the dressings from sticking, thus avoiding the destruction of the new-forming tissues.
3. When the tissues are injured in the more severe burns, the surrounding flesh is carefully disinfected with boracic-acid solution, and the same dressing applied as described for the "blister burns." Balsam Peru is a healing balm for burns of this classification.
If a child's clothes catch on fire he is instantly to be thrown on the floor and any heavy woolen fabric, such as a curtain, table spread, blanket, or rug, is to be thrown over him (beginning at the neck) and the flames thus smothered. The clothing is now cut off, and if more than one-third of the body is burned the child should be taken to the hospital for constant care; and if more than one-half of the body is injured recovery is doubtful. Great care should be taken in keeping the unburned portion of the body warm, as there is a great tendency for the child to become very cold as he weakens from both the nervous shock and from the absorption of toxins.
Acid chemical burns are treated with baking soda, except in the case of carbolic acid (misnamed), which is treated with alcohol; alkaline chemical burns are dressed in vinegar or lemon juice compresses.
Methods for restoring the drowned should be understood by every man, woman, and youth. These methods are more fully taken up in works devoted to emergencies and will not be discussed in detail at this time.