Toothache

“ When the outside observer knows that I have toothache, not only is his knowledge based upon an inductive inference, as we have already seen, but his knowledge of the inferred term, “toothache”, must be based upon personal experience. No knowledge of dentistry could enable a man to know what toothache is if he had never felt it. If, then, toothache is really a state of the body—which, at the moment, I neither affirm nor deny—it is a state of the body which only the man himself can perceive. ”

“ In other words, we must give up resisting the grip. It is the same with any other disease or any pain. If we have the toothache and give all our attention to the toothache, it inevitably makes it worse; but if we give our attention to yielding out of the toothache contractions, it eases the pain even though it may be that only the dentist can stop it. ”

“ Magic transfer of disease.
Of such magical transfer of disease to other animals or objects there are a number of examples. Toothache may be stopped by standing on the ground under the open sky and spitting in a frog’s mouth and asking it to take the toothache away with it and then releasing it. [2408] Even consumptives who seem certain to die and who labor continually with an unbearable cough, may be cured by giving them [Pg 589] to drink for three days the saliva or foam of a horse. “You will indeed cure the patient without delay, but the horse will die suddenly.” ”

“ I have never had the toothache; and what is more, I never intend to have it. ”

“ The congestion of the sensitive dentine or the irritation of an exposed nerve filament causes about as severe pain as it is given to mortals to bear. Even with toothache, however, we can by occupying ourselves with friends, or with a pleasant book, or a game of cards, or the theater, so diminish the annoyance consequent upon the pain as to be comparatively comfortable. If anything completely occupies our attention as, for instance, a fire or an accident, or bad news from a friend, then it may be hours afterwards before we realize that we were suffering from a toothache. ”

“ How true it is, that out of evil often some good will spring; for while I was enduring this thumbscrew on my gums—this gout in my jaw—this rack of my nerve—this destroyer of brains-amid this desolation I acquired much useful information respecting the toothache. One friend informed me that half the suffering was occasioned by nervous irritability; for, if I went to a dentist with a determination to have the tooth extracted, the moment I entered the door the tooth would cease to give me pain. ”

“ The front teeth are called incisors because they are used to cut the food. The back teeth are named molars because they are used in grinding the food.
Fig. 32 —Photograph of teeth not kept clean, showing how germs and a sour substance called acid eat holes in them and thus cause decay and toothache.
Toothache.—Toothache is a common ailment, and yet it can be entirely prevented. A tooth does not ache until it has a hole in it. The tender nerve within gives us warning that it is being hurt. The dentist can stop the ache and mend the tooth so that it will not ache again. ”

“ Of course my rudeness lost me a friend for a while, until I saw her and made ample apologies, but I made my last attempt and was connected with the dentist. I told him about the toothache; it took some time as I had to explain three times that I was using the line but I did it. 'Does it ache very badly? Can't you stand it until to-morrow? ”

“ A man with toothache will say that “a spirit is eating my teeth.” The people seem to have a knowledge of something inside the teeth, the nature of which I am not able to state definitely, but which apparently is, in fact, the nerve, and they recognise that it is in this something that the pain arises ”

“ Although I was not called upon for much actual work, I received no sympathy for my miserable condition; for seasickness, like the toothache, is seldom fatal, notwithstanding it is as distressing a malady as is found in the catalogue of diseases, and one for which no preventive or cure, excepting time, has yet been discovered. ”

“ For toothache take an eyelash, an eyebrow, trimmings of the finger-nails, and toe-nails of the patient, bore a hole in a beech-tree, and put them in. The sufferer must not see the tree, and it must not be cut down or burned. ”

“ If you get a sliver in your finger, it is easier to bear the pain of having it removed, than it is to carry it about with you. If you have a decayed tooth, it is easier to have it extracted than to bear the toothache. ”

“ It is a not unfamiliar experience for a man to go to a dentist, get into a chair and point to a toothache in the upper right or northeast corner of his mouth and have the dentist tell him that the toothache he thinks he is having there is really in the root of a tooth in the right lower or southwest corner. ”

“ The periods of that sort of toothache which depends on the exposure of the nerve in the cavity of the tooth seem to exist independently of any particular weather, and occur most frequently during the night, when the patient first gets warm in bed. ”

“ A farmer in Islay told an enquirer some years ago how a passing stranger once cured his grandmother of toothache by driving a horse-nail into the lintel of the kitchen door, warning her at the same time to keep the nail there, and if it should come loose just to tap it with a hammer till it had a grip again. She had no more toothache for the rest of her life.215 In Brunswick it is open to any one to nail his toothache either into a wall or into a tree, as he thinks fit ”

“ Fourth day.—The foot swells up more and more. Hammering pain in the foot all the time. Lancinations in the throat when swallowing. Pain in the abdomen, with sensation as if bruised. 55. Throbbing toothache. Prickling in the larynx when drawing breath. He approaches his hand to the fire without burning himself, whereas another person got burnt at the same distance. An hour after, he feels very keenly that he had been burnt. Stinging pain in the throat when swallowing saliva. ”

“ Our reciter went on to say that this toothache cure is of no use, and need not be tried, in any case beyond a first or second attack. It is hard to make it succeed even in the case of a second attack, and beyond that it can have no effect whatever. ”

“ Remember that toothache indicates something seriously wrong with the teeth which can only be permanently corrected {276} by a dentist. In toothache if you can find a cavity, clean it out with a small piece of cotton or a toothpick. Then plug it with cotton, on which a drop of oil of cloves has been put if you have it. If no cavity is found, soak a piece of cotton in camphor and apply it to the outside of the gum. Hot cloths and hot bottles or bags will help in toothache, just as they do in earache. ”

“ If any one has had a jumping toothache, he can imagine something what her suffering was, only the pain extended over the whole hand and arm, instead of being confined to one small place like a tooth. I have known of strong men who had the nervous system of an arm similarly affected, who begged that their arms might be taken off, and have indeed suffered amputation rather than endure the pain. ”

“ There is no imagination in regard to toothache, yet it, too, except in very severe cases, will be so modified as to be quite negligible if the victim has some mental occupation that is very absorbing. ”

“ Similarly, the toothache is cured by spitting on a grave-mound, or rubbing the aching tooth with the tooth of a corpse, which perhaps is sound, or at all events can no longer suffer.148.1 If it be desired to render a woman unfruitful, the organs of a dead man, whose potency is at an end, must be rubbed with her menses. ”

“ There is a female patient in another ward, who had suffered intense toothache for three months, when, a fortnight since, according to her own evidence, which we have no reason to doubt, it was instantly cured by one application of the magnet, through the medium of a key, and had not returned in the slightest degree up to the period of the visit of which we have given the details. ”

“ It is quite commonly employed to give immediate relief to persons suffering from toothache and even to enable them to have teeth extracted without the slightest pain, and also to cause warts and other unsightly disfigurements to disappear. ”

“ There is no part of you that poisonous germs attack more readily than your teeth. They get in between them and burrow inside them, and bring about that awful pain known as toothache, and the teeth decay and have to be pulled out ”

“ Toothache is a very painful malady, and the sufferer often flies to the most powerful spirits to obtain relief; but they afford only temporary ease, and lay the foundation for increased pain. A poultice laid on the gum not too hot takes off inflammation, or laudanum and spirits of camphor applied to the cheek externally; or mix with spirits of camphor an equal quantity of myrrh, dilute it with warm water, and hold it in the mouth; also a few drops of laudanum and oil of cloves applied to decayed teeth often affords instantaneous relief. ”

“ In our province, Brittany, when somebody in the peasantry has a cheek swollen by the effects of toothache, a very good remedy is to apply upon the swollen cheek, as a poultice, freshly expelled cow-dung, and even human dung, just expelled and still smoking, which is considered as much more efficient.”— (Personal letter from Captain Henri Jouan, French Navy, Cherbourg, France, July 29, 1888.) ”

“ The surest way to stop toothache in the adult is to extract the decayed member, and so the surest way to cut short the sufferings of an innocent babe, 93whose gums are swollen and painful, is to lance the gum, and let the tooth come through. Children whose mouths are dry from being kept too hot, eating highly-seasoned or salt food, or from some hereditary disposition, are especially liable to be late getting teeth, and there are many living evidences where none ever appeared. ”

“ That tobacco is capable of allaying to some extent the pain of toothache is, he thinks, true—its effect being due not only to its narcotizing power, but also to its direct action on the exposed nerve; and he is inclined to attribute the fact of the comparatively rare occurrence of toothache among sailors in great measure to their habit of chewing. ”

“ You must have noticed that the pain is always as far from the stomach as is compatible with probability. Toothache is a grand thing, for nobody can blame a healthy boy for eating then, if he can only bear the pain. ”

“ Another cure is more efficacious if administered as a surprise. The patient is placed in front of the operator, who unexpectedly spits on the eye affected; which action often leads to angry remonstrance, met by derisive laughter, which causes, it may be, broken friendship and general unpleasantness for a time.
It is a common belief, almost world-wide in its extent, that toothache is caused by a little worm which gnaws a hole in the tooth. ”

“ Our Lord desired him to cut his nails on a Friday, and he would be cured; hence any person who is careful always to cut his nails on a Friday only, will never be troubled with toothache. Now, which is the leading feature in this "scrap"? St. Peter, the toothache, Friday, or cutting nails? Ought it to be placed under Legends of the Saints, Folk-Medicine, Days and Seasons, or Superstitions connected with the Human Body? ”

“ The worst toothache, or neuralgia, coming from the teeth may be speedily and delightfully ended by the application of a bit of clean cotton saturated in a solution of ammonia to the defective tooth. Sometimes the late sufferer is prompted to momentary laughter by the application, but the pain will disappear. ”

“ If a tooth has been aching, and there is congestion about the pulp, or an exuding of pus, I invariably destroy it. I don't believe a pulp can be brought to a healthy condition to stand capping after it has reached that stage. But there are many cases where patients have neglected their teeth and had a little pain, or after taking sweets, they have a severe toothache that soon passes off, so that at the time of examination there is no soreness nor inflammation ”

“ We also use wet compresses, frictions, and the hip-bath, if necessary; but as a general fact, as soon as we cleanse the stomach and bowels thoroughly, the cramping ceases.
Afterward, as in all cases of stomach ailment, and all other ailments, great care should be observed in regard to the food.
TOOTHACHE. Breeding with a toothache is an old proverb. Toothache is certainly more apt to occur during pregnancy than at other times, and not unfrequently it is a very early symptom of this state. And what may appear singular, the teeth ache without being diseased. ”

“ Bread-sorrows are to other sorrows as toothache to other disorders. A simple pain can be conquered in open fight; a nervous fever, or any other "regular" illness, goes through a normal development and comes to a crisis. ”

“ You probably need more exercise or a change in diet in order to get at the cause of the headache. The toothache drop will not improve the condition of the tooth—it needs to be fixed. The corn is crying for more room—give it a chance. ”

“ At the center of the tooth is a cavity filled with a soft, reddish-white, pulpy substance full of blood vessels and nerves. This pulp is very sensitive, and toothache is caused by its irritation.
THE FITTING OF THE TOOTH INTO THE JAW is a most admirable contrivance. It is not set like a nail in wood, having the fang in contact with the bone; but the socket is lined with a membrane which forms a soft cushion. While this is in a healthy state, it deadens the force of any shock, but, when inflamed, it becomes the seat of excruciating pain. ”