It may be interesting to know that after the gums had healed and the patient had worn artificial teeth for a few months, his appetite and digestion improved, he began to gain in weight, and there was an almost complete relief from the rheumatic symptoms and the joint stiffening.
In some instances physicians have applied the pressures in their own offices, and have then sent the patients—with rubber bands bound tightly around their finger joints in order to maintain the analgesic influence—to the dentist, where their extraction or cavity preparation has been painlessly done.
And occasionally great pleasure and satisfaction is afforded both patient and doctor when some sufferer calls up on the ’phone at two or three in the morning and inquires what finger to press to relieve the pain of a certain tooth, especially when the advice given has been followed by relief.
Fig. 31—Hand and arm, left eyelid and chin, decorated with stickpins after the patient has anesthetized the left side of the body by pressure on the left inferior dental nerve.
Fig. 32—A lighted match is held beneath patient’s right great toe, anesthetized through pressure on the inner surface of the jaw in the first zone.