Cleanings

Kaikoura Star, Volume XIV, Issue 733, 27 April 1894, Page 7

Cleanings

Painless Dentistry.

‘ Does it hurt very much to have a tooth pulled,’ inquired a tall man of a dentist* ‘That depends,’ was the reply. ‘lf the affected tooth happens to be a molar, with the roots at right angles with each other, or if it is decayed so as to leave the nerve uncovered, or even if it is worn down even with the gums, so that it is necessary to dig the flesh away in order to get a good hold with the forceps then the chances are that you will kick a little.’ Then the tali man trembled from head to foot, and in a shaking voice said :— ‘ What do you think of that one ?’ accompanying his words by opening his mouth to the fullest extent | and indicating with his finger the seat of his trouble. The doctor took up a small instrument with a little round looking glass at one end, and, running it into the cavern that yawned before him, made a careful inspection of the interior. ‘ That looks like a stubborn old fellow,’ remarked the doctor, as he replaced the instrument upon the working table. ‘ What would you advise ?’ timidly inquired the tall man. ‘ Laughing gas,’ replied the doctor. ‘ Will I be oblivious to the pain ?’ ‘ Entirely so.’ The tall man settled himself in the operating chair, and the doctor inserted between the patient’s teeth an old champagne cork. Then he placed a funnel shaped piece of rubber over the tall man’s mouth and nose, and told him to breathe heavily. Gradually consciousness gave way under the influence of gas, but not until the man to be operated upon bad suffered the sensation of being smothered under an old-fashioned feather pillow. The tall man was now in dreamland. He first imagined that he was on his way to the World’s Fair, and when the train was on a down grade, and going 60 miles an hour, the wheels left the track. The air brakes broke, and the * cars rushed along at a terrible speed. It was with the greatest difficulty that the dreamer kept in his berth. Tremendous jolting was caused by the wheels running over the ties. The wreck of the train was inevitable. The car was filled with the shrieks of the terrified passengers, mingled with the crash of glass and the rattle of the train. Suddenly there was a deafening report and a tremendous concussion, and the cars appeared to crumble away. The tall man found himself in total darkness, but suddenly, to his terror, he discovered a streak of lurid flame through the wreckage, which told him that he would be rousted alive if immediate succour did not reach him. He could hear voices directly over him, but do as he would, not a sound could he utter. The flames were making rapid progress towards the place where he was confined, and their hot breath was beginning to singe his whiskers. Then came the crash of an axe directly over his head. The first blow struck him squarely in the back of the neck, and he felt that his time had surely come. The next one cut off his left ear, and the third one opened up a space in his cranium the size of a saucer. The fire had now crept up to his feet, and the left one was slowly roasting, when another blow from the axe, greater than all the rest, knocked bis head clean from his body. He experienced a singular buzzing in his ear; there was a gleam of light in the distance, and with a bound he returned to consciousness. The doctor was standing over him, holding a double tooth in his forceps. * That was an old stager, and no mistake. How he did hang. It took all my strength to dislodge him,’ and the doctor wiped his dripping forehead with his handkerchief. ‘ Where a-a-am 1?’ were the first words of the tall man. ‘ Why, right here in my office,’ responded the doctor. ‘ You would have

had a tough time if you hadn't taken the gas.’ ‘ Well, if it had been rougher than it actually was I would.now be a corpse,’ and the tall man paid the Idol. 50cents and went out into the street, feeling as if he had been walking in a treadmill for a week.— Boston Herald.