Modern dental materia medica, pharmacology and therapeutics : including the practical application of drugs and remedies in the treatment of disease / by J.P. Buckley.

  • Buckley, J. P. (John Peter), 1873-1942
Date:
[1911], ©1911
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Modern dental materia medica, pharmacology and therapeutics : including the practical application of drugs and remedies in the treatment of disease / by J.P. Buckley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PART | MODERN DENTAL MATERIA MEDICA, PHARMACOLOGY AND THERAPEUTICS Materia medica is the science that treats of drugs, the study of which includes the source, constituents, physical and chemic properties of the inorganic and organic materials used for drugs. Pharmacology is the science that treats of the action of drugs upon the tissues, organs and functions of the body. It is, therefore, the study of the changes induced in living organisms by the adminis- tration of such substances as do not act as foods. Formerly this science was called Pharmacodynamics. That part of Pharmacology devoted to the study of Poisons is called Toxicology. .Therapeutics is the science that deals with the application of drugs or remedies to the treatment of disease. The treatment of disease based solely on clinical experience, whereby remedies are administered or applied without reference to their physiologic action, is known as empirical therapeutics. The application of the essential oils to the canals of teeth containing gangrenous (putrescent) pulps, or the giving of salicylic acid, sodium salicylate or the lithium salts in cases of pyorrhea alveolaris, sup- posed to be associated with rheumatism or gout, are examples of empirical therapeutics. The treatment of disease by the employment of drugs which, from a knowledge of their physiologic actions, are expected to counteract certain known pathologic conditions, is recognized as | rational therapeutics. The application of remedies containing for- maldehyd to a gangrenous root-canal, wherein it is expected that the formaldehyd gas will neutralize the gaseous end-products of pulp decomposition, may be given as an illustration of rational therapeutics. While it is essential that the student should understand at the very outset the definition of the terms materia medica, pharmacology and therapeutics, it is also essential that other general terms used throughout the text should be thoroughly mastered at this time. A medicine is any substance used in the treatment of disease. Medicines differ from foods in that the latter furnishes material with Ve