Case of epilepsy, occasioned by irritation in the socket of a tooth : with remarks / by William Baly.

  • Baly, William, 1814-1861.
Date:
[1851]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Case of epilepsy, occasioned by irritation in the socket of a tooth : with remarks / by William Baly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    r-'v c CASE 07 EPILEPSY, OCCASIONED BY IRRITATION IN THE SOCKET OF A TOOTH. WITH REMARKS. By WILLIAM BALY, M.D. F.R.S. PHYSICIAN TO THE MILLBANK PRISON, AND LECTURER ON FORENSIC MEDICINE AT ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S HOSPITAL. jRead on Thursday, Jan. 30, 1851. The patient, Thomas Bell, 45 years old, a man of large heavy frame, though not plethoric or fat, and of a somewhat phlegmatic temperament, had been em- ployed for six years and a half as a warder in Millbank Prison, having for- merly served in the Royal Artillery force. His habits were temperate, and he had generally enjoyed perfectly good health; his last illness having been ague, from which he suffered while stationed at Woolwich in 1839. He had never been subject to headache, giddiness, fits, or other nervous affec- tion, previous to the attacks presently to be described. In the month of August 1850, he was sent, in charge of convicts, from Mill- bank Prison to Shorncliffe Barracks Prison, near Folkestone; and while there—namely, about the end of Octo- ber—being otherwise in good health, began to suffer from toothache. On the evening of the 4th November, at his request, Mr. Chatfield, the medical officer of the prison, examined the pain- ful tooth, the second upper molar of the right side, but, on account of its very decayed state, and the want of light, declined to remove it then: he ap- plied strong nitric acid, telling the patient to come again the next day. After the acid was applied, the pain ceased, and the patient thought no more of the tooth; but, on the 6th November, he felt a twitching of his right cheek, lasting four or five minutes, and recurring three or four times in the course of the day. At these times, when the twitching had reached a cer- tain degree of intensity, his jaw became locked, and he lost the power of speech; but he had no pain in the head, gid- diness, or sense of stupor. The paroxysms of spasm in the muscles of the right side of the face and jaws re- curred during the next day (Nov. 7th), and on the following day, the fourth after the examination of the tooth by Mr. Chatfield, the twitching became more violent, and his jaw locked; lie had the sensation of all his teeth on the right Side falling out, and then lost consciousness. A strong convulsive fit ensued, which lasted half an hour: the same night he had a second fit. In this attack he was seen by Mr. Cliat- lield, who describes it as having had all the characters of an epileptic seizure, with more marked distortion of the right than of the left side of the face; the right corner of the mouth being drawn towards the right ear. A third fit of the same kind followed within half an hour alter his recovering from the second. In the intervals between the fits, and after the third, he was sensi- ble. A full dose of henbane was given