Critical notes of Mr. Gilbert's operative chair, with external fulcrum, for the extraction of teeth.

  • Gilbert Henry, -1864.
Date:
[1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Critical notes of Mr. Gilbert's operative chair, with external fulcrum, for the extraction of teeth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    CRITICAL NOTICES OF : ©perattbe WITH EXTERNAL FULCRUM, FOR THE EXTRACTION OF TEETH. (From the Lancet, Dec. 2nd, 1848.^) A NEW CHAIR, ADAPTED TO THE PRACTICE OP DENTAL SURGERY. We have lately examined a chair, to be used in the practice of dental surgery, which has been invented by Mr. Gilbert, a surgeon of Suffolk - place, Pall Mall, and which we consider presents very ingenious and •useful peculiarities. Its chief feature is, that it removes the fulcrum required in the extraction of teeth out of the mouth, so that the jaw is not liable to sustain injury. It consists of a padded and easy seat, with arms; a moveable back, which can be readily let down to any inclination, and which (the back) at its summit is semicircular, so as to receive and retain steadily the head of the patient. At the right-hand side is let in a strong circular steel bar; on this runs another at right angles, which can be promptly' fixed by a screw at any required height. The crossbar, it its termination, holds a flat piece of metal, which, being covered by lint, is brought opposite to, or within, the mouth, and serves as the 'ulcrum for the forceps used by the operator to rest on. In extracting ;he teeth of the lower jaw, the forceps is placed superiorly to this .'ulcrum. In the removal of teeth from the upper alveoli it is only lecessary to let down the back of the chair, when the operator, handing behind the patient, makes the inferior surface of the bar his 'ulcrum, and proceeds to extraction in exactly the same manner as in he former case. The forceps having grasped the tooth, the operator, nth a single movement in one direction, raises the latter out of its socket. Mr. Gilbert states, “that he was led to the construction of his in- dention, which he has fully matured, by a remark of John Hunter, o the end that the extraction of a tooth should, ‘ if possible,’ be effected icrpendicularly, or in the direction of its axis. (See ‘ Natural History if the Teeth,’ p. 166.) Every surgeon and anatomist must needs admit, hat the more extensively a lateral force is used, the greater is the ex- ent of injury to the alveolar process, to say nothing of the increased tain and hemorrhage consequent upon the crushing the jaw and the tructurcs by which it is surrounded, which is inevitable unless the ful- rum can be removed from these structures.” Mr. Gilbert (with a certain degree of modesty which is not exhibited y all inventors) forbears to assert that by means of his apparatus, >oth-drawing will be rendered a positively pleasurable operation to the