Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Plain advice on the care of the teeth / [D.A. Cameron]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
62/208 (page 42)
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Plain advice on the care of the teeth / [D.A. Cameron]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
![tiirers on dental surgery and rneinbers of royal colleges, who recoininend prepared chalk and camphor or orrice root as a tooth powder in all cases. On what principle are such tooth powders always to be used? 'J’heir virtue is, first, to polish the teeth by friction, and second, to neutralize acids, which are two very good properties; but constant friction by a mineral powder, turns out to be a very- bad thing, for it wears off the enamel too soon, and thus the mere neutralizing of acidity is dearly bought. The powders prepared by an experienced dentist, should afford some better guarantee than those invented by |)er- fumers, apothecaries, and others, not liaving the same opportunity of observing their elfects. Were we to view the teeth as mere mechanical bodies having no relation to neighbouring parts, and exi)osed to sim])le decomposition from an acid, these prescriptions might do very well. The teeth must really be viewed as nuicb more complicated, before any thing can be done a])propriatcly for them. Without affect-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2202802x_0062.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
