{"id":1404,"date":"2013-01-13T19:01:47","date_gmt":"2013-01-14T02:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lindacollison.com\/?p=1404"},"modified":"2013-01-14T08:56:58","modified_gmt":"2013-01-14T15:56:58","slug":"tooth-trauma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/tooth-trauma\/","title":{"rendered":"Tooth trauma"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a novelist and a time traveler of sorts, I am enamored with the past.\u00a0 But as P.J. O\u2019Rourke said, \u201cWhen you think of the good old days think one word:\u00a0 Dentistry.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

When I was a child\u00a0 Dr. Lory, our family dentist, drilled out all my cavities (and I had many) without using any Novocain.\u00a0 No nitrous oxide, no anesthetic whatever.\u00a0 Not that it wasn\u2019t invented, mind you.\u00a0 But for some reason he didn\u2019t believe children felt pain, or maybe he was a sadist.\u00a0 Whatever the reason, having my teeth drilled without any numbing at such a tender age traumatized me.\u00a0 To this day the whine of the dentist\u2019s electric drill nearly sends me through the roof \u2013 even if I\u2019ve been shot up with enough\u00a0local anesthetic\u00a0to knock down a horse.\u00a0 \u00a0I haven\u2019t been to Dr. Lory in decades, the old bastard is probably dead by now.<\/p>\n

This past Wednesday I went Dr. Haushildt to have a crown molded for tooth number three, which has been cracked\u00a0for some time.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This involved grinding the tooth down on all sides first, then making a mold.\u00a0 The operative word here is \u201cgrinding\u201d which obviously means a \u201cgrinder\u201d will be used.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hauschildt of course numbed me up before he started \u2013 it\u2019s standard practice — but I wish I had been fully anesthetized, or at least given a wee dram of valium or propofol\u00a0 (which is not standard practice!)<\/p>\n

The mere sound of the grinder terrified me, that\u00a0piercing electric whine.\u00a0 It sounds just like the drill.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My gum felt numb but I couldn\u2019t be sure the numbness was deep and\u00a0complete.\u00a0 I kept expecting him to touch a nerve and send me through the roof.\u00a0\u00a0 And can’t they do something about the noise? \u00a0My entire skull was vibrating, it sounded like a team of carpenters was working inside my head.\u00a0 Thank God\u00a0my dentist\u00a0was quick.\u00a0 Next came the mold, biting down into the gluey substance and then the fitting of the temporary cap with some sort of marine adhesive, 5200?\u00a0 Something that sticks even when wet.\u00a0 I go back in a couple of weeks to have the permanent cap installed, which should be no problem, as long as he doesn’t have to grind.<\/p>\n

How far we\u2019ve come since the 18th<\/sup> century!\u00a0 Back then surgeons did double duty as dentists; they could bleed you, dose you, amputate your shattered limb or pull your aching tooth with a toolkit containing a tourniquet, scalpel, a bone saw and a toothkey.\u00a0 There were no electric drills or grinders, no permanent fillings, no antibiotics, no anesthetics. OK, they did have rum.\u00a0 And they used clove oil and cinnamon oil to ease toothaches, which were very common.\u00a0 Most people\u2019s teeth fell out or were pulled out over the years.<\/p>\n

Clove and cinnamon oil are quite effective, for spices.\u00a0 You can\u00a0get these aromatic oils in the health food store.\u00a0 They\u2019re good to have in the first aid kit in case you get a toothache on a weekend or holiday, or if you\u2019re setting out to sea or going backpacking in the wilderness. A drop of clove or cinnamon oil on a cotton ball applied to the gum stings a bit then becomes tingly and somewhat numb. As does your tongue, unless you can keep it out of the way.\u00a0 It\u2019s not quite as deadening as a good shot of 2% xylocaine with epinephrine — but it does have antimicrobial properties and freshens your breath nicely. It will do in a pinch and you don\u2019t need a dentist to administer it.<\/p>\n

A few years ago when Bob and I were living in Hawaii, my remaining wisdom tooth was giving me grief and I decided to have it removed.\u00a0 Even in Paradise a tooth extraction is not much fun.\u00a0 For some reason the dentist could not get me numb with an inferior alveolar block. A little rum on the gum might have helped, but nobody uses that anymore.\u00a0 After a shot of something else (xyocaine or marcaine?) failed to do the trick (yes, I can feel that!) \u00a0I told her just to pull the damn thing and be quick about it.\u00a0 She attached the pliers to my tooth and began to pull with all her might.\u00a0 I was wishing then for a big brute of a dentist, a bodybuilder, Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime — not this little old woman wearing a muumuu and an orchid blossom in her hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cAm I hurting you?\u201d\u00a0 she asked, peering at me with concern over her mask.<\/p>\n

As her hand and pliers were still in my mouth all I could do was nod and say \u201cJust get it over with!\u00a0 Pull the damn thing!\u201d\u00a0 Which came out \u201cLa la blah wa blah la wa!\u201d\u00a0 But I think she got the idea.<\/p>\n

Another grunting yank and half the tooth came out. \u00a0It took a few more tugs to get the rest of it, and then I went home and consoled myself with a Vicodin.\u00a0 Which I really didn\u2019t need because the worst of it was over, but I took it anyway.\u00a0 It didn’t do much for me, I should’ve had the rum.<\/p>\n

I thought back on this experience when writing the tooth pulling scene in my second historical novel, Surgeon\u2019s Mate<\/strong> <\/a>(Fireship Press; 2011). \u00a0<\/em>Here\u2019s a brief excerpt:<\/em><\/p>\n

I retrieved my surgical kit, inspecting it to make certain all the instruments were there.\u00a0 The toothkey, I noticed, showed a speck of corrosion though I had just polished it a few days ago.<\/em><\/p>\n

It must come out easily, without undue pain.\u00a0 Preferably in one piece.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t be good if I had to go digging with the scalpel and tenaculum.\u00a0 Our freedom depended on a successful extraction.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSome spirits, sir?\u00a0 To dull the nerves?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s been seen to.\u00a0 I\u2019ve enough of Guyon\u2019s brandy on board to numb a mule, yet it hasn\u2019t helped a bit.\u00a0 You may proceed, sir.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I rolled up my sleeves and his guards moved in for a closer look.<\/em><\/p>\n

The lugger\u2019s medicine chest held little of value.\u00a0 I found some oil of cinnamon and soaked a cotton pledget with it.\u00a0 This would not only cleanse the gum but would shrink the swelling and dull the sensation.\u00a0 It also sweetened the fould stench coming from the oozing pus.\u00a0 While the cinnamon did its work, I prepared a tincture of hyssop to follow the extraction, to sooth the empty socket and reduce any bleeding.\u00a0 The men watched with morbid curiosity.\u00a0 Next, I readied my instruments, picking each one up and holding it to the light for inspection, more for dramatic effect than anything else.\u00a0 A thick roll of gauze doused with a few drops of cinnamon oil to keep his mouth from clamping down, should he reflexively try to bite me.\u00a0 Now I was ready…\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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As a novelist and a time traveler of sorts, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[228],"tags":[233,231,232,27],"class_list":["post-1404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humor","tag-18th-century-dentistry","tag-dentistry","tag-p-j-orourke","tag-surgeons-mate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1404"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1409,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404\/revisions\/1409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}