However, for the benefit of those dentists who may be interested in learning how to desensitize cavities in sensitive teeth, or do some of the necessarily painful scaling of tartar and other deposits in pyorrhea, and for the particular benefit of several million of their patients throughout the country, I would say that pressure by an assistant exerted over the joints of the thumb (the assistant would do better completely to “cover” the joint, using thumbs and fingers of both hands for this purpose), will mitigate or quite control the pain in the incisor and occasionally the cuspid teeth of the side corresponding to the finger being squeezed.
Never let the patient do this for himself, unless you provide him with clamps or wide rubber bands for the purpose, as he cannot be trusted to make the pressures long enough or strong enough to accomplish satisfactory results.
Pressure exerted over the first or second joint of the first finger will control pain in the cuspid and bicuspid teeth. The second finger is related to the two molars, but sometimes the third (or ring) finger must also be employed for this region.
In other words, pressure upon the thumb, fore-finger, middle, and ring fingers of either hand will control correspondingly pain in the incisors, cuspids and bicuspids and the two molars on either side of the median line, providing that there is no great inflammation or no abscess in the vicinity of the corresponding teeth.
Occasionally the “control” over-laps, in which case it is necessary to use also the finger next to the zone finger, and in the case of wisdom teeth, to get the best results it is sometimes advisable to use both the third and the little finger—as the fourth and fifth zones merge in the head.
A very successful method practiced by some experts—particularly where extraction must be done—is to grasp the offending tooth as near the apex of the root as is practicable, and with the thumb and finger make firm pressure for three, four, or more minutes—by the watch. This usually produces a degree of anaesthesia lasting about one half hour, although pressure can, if necessary, be reapplied at any time.
Other dentists and oral surgeons get excellent results by pressing on the “heel of the jaw”—the point directly back of the wisdom tooth, ponderously known as “the tuberosity of the superior maxillary.” This produces a very complete and lasting anaesthesia of the entire jaw of the side affected, and permits of the painless extraction of teeth living in the immediate neighborhood.
Fig. 25—Pressure at I, Fig. [4], with thumb and finger will anesthetize both thumb zones, inasmuch as the pressure is brought directly on the median line and to the right and left of it.