Note (42) — CANTO FIFTH.

“I have been made happy by discovering that I have only added to the observations of other physicians in pointing out a connexion between the extraction of decayed and diseased teeth, and the cure of general diseases. Several instances of the efficacy of that remedy in relieving head-ache and vertigo are mentioned by Dr. Darwin. Dr. Gatu relates that M. Petit, a celebrated French surgeon, had often cured intermittent fevers, which had resisted the bark for months, and even years, by this prescription; and he quotes from his work two cases, one of consumption, and one of vertigo, both of long continuance, which were suddenly cured by the extraction of two decayed teeth in the former, and two supernumerary teeth in the latter case.

“These facts should not surprise us, when we recollect how often the most general diseases are brought on by very inconsiderable inlets of morbid excitement into the system. A small tumor, concealed in the fleshy part of the leg, has been known to bring on epilepsy. A trifling wound with a splinter or a nail, even after it has healed, has often induced a fatal tetanus. Worms in the bowels have produced internal dropsy of the brain, and a stone in the kidney has excited the most violent commotions in every part of the system.—Many hundred facts of a similar nature are to be met in the records of medicine.

“When we consider how often the teeth, when decayed, are exposed to irritation from hot and cold drinks and aliments, from pressure by mortification, and from the cold air, and how intimate the connection of the mouth is with the whole system, I am disposed to believe they are often unsuspected causes of general, and particularly of nervous diseases. When we add to the list of those diseases the morbid effects of the acrid and putrid matters which are sometimes discharged from carious teeth, or from ulcers in the gums created by them, also the influences which both have in preventing perfect mastication, and the connection of the animal function with good health, I cannot help thinking, that our success in the treatment of all chronic diseases would be very much promoted by directing our inquiries into the state of the teeth of sick people, and by advising their extraction in every case in which they are decayed. It is not necessary that they should be attended with pain in order to produce diseases, for splinters, tumors, and other irritants before mentioned, often bring on diseases and death when they give no pain, nor are suspected as causes of them. This transition of sensation and motion to parts remote from the place where impressions are made, appears in many instances, and seems to depend upon an original law of the animal economy.” (Medical Inquiries by Dr. Rush, Vol. I. p. 199.)