Newspapers / The Wilmington Dispatch (Wilmington, … / March 24, 1917, edition 1 / Page 2
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i V"';. i 4FaW ,711 mm 1( '1 j,-.! III Sill i;. I'll Iff mM mm tJf ; 5?v l-.l 1 St'. H: .' 1 if i ' .. 'Mil' 1 M; 5 il.SSi.f. fit m mm iC Mi ::U.t.- m i ;i Mr I,! ' :' ma is: Mil :-SH i tS tti'-' i 'I ;1if , M II 1 52. i: ' fill mm 11 ! Sl Gums That May Be';.aMed to .the Body's J 1 Withgt3 RCSWl An X-Ray Photograph of the Head the Only Certain Method of Ascertaining Whether There Are Centres of w Infection Hidden Away at the Roots of Your Teeth and Spreading Their Deadly Poisons Through the Whole System. By William Brady, M. D. A DEAR old lady used to suffer acute seizures of what she and her family called 4 ' liver trouble." The attack generally tregan with a chill, which, regard less of weather or other circumstances, was clearly evidence that the patient had ' ' taken cold again." Following the chill there was a severe nausea, intense headache, then a high fever and a profuse sweat. In a day or two the ' ' cold on the liver ' ' was over. Now, in the good old days of divination it tnay have Tbeen fine practice forthe doctor to agree, if not actually to suggest, that the patient had been careless and "caught cold." But nowadays when we encounter such a sequence of chill, fever and sweat, we look for infection somewhere. This patient carried in her mouth some old stumps and the usual chronically in flamed gums that accompany neglected teeth. On examination, with each attack of 'liver trouble," a pocket of pus was found in the gum about a decayed tooth. This pocket was emptied by a painless lancing. The drainage of the pus promptly relieved the "cold settled on the liver." But could we convince the patient that all her trouble was I due to ' ' those old stumps ? ' ' No, in deed. She had carried those old teeth for ever so many years, and a doctor who inti mated that liver trouble could be produced by old teeth was crazy in the head ! To the ordinary reader the idea that heart disease may be caused by bad teeth seems rather far-fetched. There are two reasons for this incredulity. First,- the medical authorities a generation ago looked upon rheumatism and overwork as the usual causes of heart disease. And second,, heredity was blamed for the sins of thechildren themselves. Grandfathers have been forced to shoulder responsibility for a good deal of the disease we bring upon our selves. O Of course, any one whose reading extends beyond the almanac and the liniment adver tisements knows that rheumatism is not a penalty of bad weather, exposure, dampness and other natural conditions, but just an in fection of the joints or neighboring tissues with germs grown in some distant depot, in a tonsil or underneath a comfortable but un sanitary bridge or cap or filling, for instance. That the germs from this septic focus occasionally lodge upon the membrane of a heart valve instead of lodging upon the mem brane lining of a joint, is purely a matter of chance. But it explains why valvular heart disease has always been a frequent compli cation of inflammatory or articular rheuma tism. In : examining candidates for life insur ance physicians often detect a ' ' murmur ' ' or other indications of faulty heart function and the candidate is rejected or postponed much to his surprise or indignation. He' is unaware of any heart trouble; perhaps he considers himself quite well. Yet the disease is there. How did it get there V Well, a carefully elicited history shows that, years ago, the candidate suffered frequent attacks of tonsilitis, or quinsy, or just sore throat. These were trifling illnesses, as a rule. Recovery was always prompt and complete. Nevertheless, in one of those attacks the in fection broke through the barriers of the tonsil or throat and reached the lining of the heart; there the germs set up the mildest little inflammatory reaction, which neces sarily leaves a certain amount of scar tissue behind. The scar tissue, like a scar anywhere else, slowly contracts, so that in months or years the part is distorted. If the delicate heart valve itself happens to be the seat of the in fection, the distortion is likely to interfere ;withperfect closure, and so a leakage grad ually develops. But if the seat of the infec tion happens to be the lining of the heart in a place apart from the valve, no permanent damage is done. , The doctors who used to look upon sore throas"as "colds" pure and simple, natur ally had lHtle use for stethoseopes, micro- "To Watch the Mouth and Teeth Carefully and Have Recourse to a Dental Surgeon at the First Sign of Trouble Mav Be the M-ans of Saving You from Lifelong Misery and an Early Grave." MSI . -v v-. K3f A scopes and other instruments of precision. They just "pronounced" the case so and so, and the pronunciamento was final and authoritative. Some great authorities prac tised medicine fifty years ago. Their works are still read and quoted by amateur healers ! If a patient with a sore throat or ton sillitis developed an endocarditis (that is mediealese for inflammation of the heart lin ing), the patient said nothing about it, he felt nothing. The doctor therefore was un aware of it. The doctor seldom listened to the heart ; when he did pretend to do so he usually clapped his ear down on the patient's shirt bosom and imagined lie heard the heart beating. If it w7as still beating the patient was all right. Thus it happened that many a simple endocarditis escaped recognition, and the patient wTent blithely on for years and years before the damage was discovered, if at all. "With a heart valve damaged or distorted as a result of a low grade, painless, per haps wholly symptomless infection secondary to-an alleged simple sore throat or "cold, he victim is as often as not quite innocent of the state of his heart. It heats regularly. It gives no pain. His strength is in no wise diminished. Ili.s heart remair:; as ellieient as ever. "Why? Because the heart m-uscle is the most responsive of all muscles to func tional demands. , So soon as a slight leakage begins, a tri fling back flow of blood through the distort ed valve at each contraction of the heart, there begins a process of increased muscular development in the heart wall, and this is maintained in pace with the increasing leak age, so that the heart pumps out a much larger amount of blood at each beat, and hence the portion which does W.k back when the valve closes is never missed. Of course there is a limit to this compen satory overgrowth or development of heart muscle, and as soon as this limit is reached, Nhe patient becomes aware that his effi ciency is falling off. He begins to be short of breath on slight exertion, perhaps to cough more or less, to bo more easily fatigued by physical or mental work, to sleep less soundly, or to have more or less "stomach trouble" or dyspepsia. Not until the heart finally weakens under the strain does the patient experience irregularity, pal pitation, dropsical swelling of the legs, pos sibly blood-streaked1 expectoration and other alarming symptoms of loss of compen sation. " : , All of this is now well known to come from a comparatively trifling tonsillitis or quinsy or sore throat. In modern practice the physician urges the patient to go to bed or at least to remain at rest when nurs ing a sore throat or a tonsilitis. This is for the purpose of protecting the heart, just as rest is advisable in an attack of "rheumat- r, - ,v:v c?iT Afc. a. lii ' . X M ill 7 l M - V ' - T I I I I I 1 I I I III v j s.-J A. X " (Z T 3t l -W. X-.'v v, 111 - I m.-. V . I M l HI WW B I cr xx- .wf -3 ,tr: 111 W, ;i iMWdr Sk II I lift II 1 II ml sm 1 1 ism, even it .natyre doesn t en force it. The tendency for inflammatory or articular rheumatism or rheuma tic fever to complicate or follow at tacks of sore throat or tonsillitis is now pretty generally recognized, even outside of the medical pro fession. It is not difficult to believe ihat, if infected or disased tonsils can produce heart disease, infected cr diseased teeth and gums can 'do so, too. In short, we know that bad teeth of the cause cf disease and probably much oftener than diseased tonsils. For that matter, many of the lead ing throat specialists at present hold that decayed teeth are the primary cause of diseased tonsils. It is true that we rarely find a child with well preserved teeth and diseased ton sils. But, then, we rarely find a hu man mouth with well preserved teeth any way as no conclusions arc drawn from association. Familiarity is what breeds contempt for diseased teeth and gums and for foul condi tions in the mouth . Becaus.o so many people have lud teeth, chronic inflammation of the .gums (sore gnrns, spongy, bleeding "Riggs disease," pyorrhoea) and adenoid rem n ins or diseased tonsils, it has long been the fashion to ignore tho.-;e perfectly obvious factors and attempt to fasten common and serious ills re sulting from oral sepsis r.pon the weather, exposure, overwork, heredity, uris acid and other imaginary causes. Anemia is a strikingly frequent condition in persons who have diseased gums. Ro is obstinate dvsnepsia. And so is nephritis. f irijrht's disease. There is probably an in timate relation between the oral sepsis and the other conditions. Not so much from the septic or poisonous material unconsciously swallowed all day and all night from the gums, but from the tox?e material absorbed ; directly into the circulation. This continual poisoning of the blood in evitably leads to the destruction or red cor puscles. The impoverished state of the blood contributes to the stomach trouble, for an organ1 nourished with weak, poisoned blood will not do good work. And of -course the kidneys are under a continual strain and irritation filtering cut. the poisonous matter. The whole cause of Bright 'a disease , is toxemia poison of one sort or another in the blood. When you remember how dan gerous is 3 wound made by v. man's teeth, arrd how difficult it is to heal wounds about., the mouth, you will realize that the human' oral cavity must be an unsanitary place. . There are certain essential conditions for the cultivation of disease germs. These are Copyright, 1917. by the Star Company. Great Britain Rights rI. "JJi . . ? . 'Klllt' ""-r JI I 11 l I II IV fill A Sectional View of the Hearts Germs Filtering Through the Blood from an Infected or Diseased Mouth May Cause Permanent Damage If They Happen to Reach One of the Heart's Delicately Adjusted Valves. food, warmth and moisture ; generally daft ness is also favorable. In the neglected oral cavity the conditions are ideal. Particles of food remain clinging to the teeth to putrefy there and furnish a perfect medium for the growth of germs. Not only the germs which set up tonsilitis, quinsy, tooth decay and pyorrhoea, but also the germs that eause ordinary coryza (cold in the head), bron chitis and pneumonia. We are now fully aware that certain strains of germs have a selective affinity for certain tissues. For example, the particular species, Streptococcus viridans, which often produces the infection about the roots of teeth or beneath unsanitary crowns or poorly placed fillings, usually a painless proc ess and only demonstrable by X-ray photo graphs of the teeth, has a selective affinity for joint linings and heart lining serous membrane. N Another strain, producing low grade tonsil infections, has an affinity for mucous mem branes, causing such secondary lesions as gastric ulcer, appendicitis, gallsac disease. Certain strains, perhaps grown in pockets in diseased gums, show an affinity for muscle tiSSue cause so-called muscular rheumatism. When a bacteriologist finds a peculiar type of bacteria present in the infected area about a. bad tooth, and also in the lymph nodes near a "rheumatic" joint, and also in the lining of the joint itself the old "rheumatic" "joint, or maybe it is called rheumatoid arthritis, or arthritis deformans he is justified In assuming that the portal of entry for thi trouble was. the original neglected or maltreated tooth decay. Cheap dentistry, dentistry done at bargain rates, is storing up for a lot of unsuspecting people lifelong misery and illness which they Reserved. A Diagrammatic View of the Body's Cir culatory, System Showing the Network of Veins and Arteries Through Which Poisons Generated in the Decayed Teeth (EE) Are Often Carried to the Lungs (AA) the Heart (B) the Stomach (C) and the Liver (D) Heart Disease, Ton sillitis, Rheumatism, iBright's Disease and Other Serious Troubles Are Now Believed to Be Frequently Caused by Bad Teeth. . little realize is to be their lot. It is a curious thing that men and women who -wouldn't think of wearing shoddy' clothing or cheap shoes will permit slipshod dentistry. Besides the heart disease (valvular) trace able to infection from the teeth and gums and tonsils, there is still another form of heart 'disease indirectly associated with bad teeth- degeneration of the heart muscle. This is "organic" heart disease with a vengeance, though nowadays the distinction between "functional" and "organic" dis ease is purely psychological. KThe heart muscle suffers from faulty nutrition just as the rest of the body does,, wlien the blood, is poor or full of poiaon. H anemia plus toxjemia continues over a period bf years, the jheart muscle .may actually Undergo a. degenerative change, and then the victim has "organic" or "fatty" disease of. jthfe heart. .Doctors call it myocarditis. This is one of the late results of neglected teetjbuf To say that a man or woman has metsyitli premature or sudden death from badxeth is stating the truth in many cases, for thte heart would have kept beating a long time et if the teeth had been properly cared for. hi- IP 13
The Wilmington Dispatch (Wilmington, N.C.)
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March 24, 1917, edition 1
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