DESENSITISED DENTISTRY

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 133, 2 December 1935, Page 10

DESENSITISED DENTISTRY

Medical science has done much to alleviate the sufferings of humanity, but some of the minor ordeals of pain continue to test the endurance of the sufferer. One of lhese;— familiar to most people—is the sensation that accompanies the operalion of the dentist's drill in the excavation of a hollow toolh preparatory to a filling. There is no need to describe it; the rattle of a pneumatic riveter on a steel-frame building is a constant reminder. In almost all else a dentist does for his patient there has been so prodigious an advance in technique, appliances, devices, and anodynes that the pristine terrors of the "chair" have largely disappeared. All but the drill. Somebody has said that "there was never yet philosopher could bear the toothache patiently," but, with the alternative in prospect of an appointment with the master of the drill, it has often been possible to give a good imitation of patience and philosophy. Henceforward there is no need to worry. A cable message from New York brings tidings of great joy, announcing "the discovery of a substance which makes the dentist's drill a painless instrument," "something," the message adds quite correctly, "millions of persons the world over have been, hoping for." It seems almost too good to be true, but there it is, and, what is more, we are told that the "desensitiser . . .

not. only prevents pain but offers the possibility of, saving teeth now lost through extraction." Thus there is a double benefit. It is not stated what the "desensitiser" is, but it is most gratifying to be assured that "the product will be made available commercially in the near future." New Zealanders, who, unfortunately, for some reason or other, have more than a national share of trouble with teeth, will hope that the announcement of this triumph of -dental science is neither premature nor

exaggerated.