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
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

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.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    * A remedy is a broader term and includes, besides material sub- stances such agents or means employed in therapeutics as heat, cold, light, electricity, massage and suggestion. Remedies, therefore, may be divided as follows: Prophylactic Remedies.—Those used to prevent disease, as polishing tooth-surfaces to prevent caries, or vaccination to prevent smallpox. Hygienic Remedies.—Those that assist in the maintenance of health, such as pure air, water, food and bathing. Imponderable remedies.—These include heat, cold, light, electricity, massage and suggestion. Mechanical remedies.—These involve the use of bandages, splints, instruments, etc. Pharmacologic remedies.—These are called also medicinal remedies and are the material substances or medicines used in the treatment of disease. There are several closely related terms employed in the study of the practical uses of remedies, which often lead to confusion. It is well that the student understand these terms at the very outset. The term specific has a double meaning. When used in connection with a remedy it means that the remedy, if used in the proper man- ner, can generally be depended upon to produce definite results in certain diseases. For example, formocresol is a specific for putrescent pulp conditions; antitoxin is a specific for diphtheria. There are but few specific remedies. Applied to a disease, the term specific means syphilis, and it is so used by physicians and dentists to indi- cate that disease which has associated with it the stigma of vice. Therefore, syphilis is generally spoken of as a specific disease. The terms physiologic action, physiologic effect and thera- peutic effect are too frequently used interchangeably, without refer- ence to their true meaning. There is a distinction between the action and the effect of a drug. Many times the action of a drug is obscure, but the effect, if produced, must necessarily be apparent. This is nicely illustrated by the inhalation of ammonia in cases of syncope (fainting). The action of the ammonia gas is that of an irritant on the respiratory mucous membrane, while \he physiologic effect desired in this instance is cardiac and respiratory stimulation. This is brought about reflexly by the local irritation; for ammonia, thus ad- ministered, produces a marked increase in both the strength and rapidity of the pulse and the depth and rapidity of the respirations.