WONDERFUL CONSTRUCTIVE DENTISTRY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2790, 31 May 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

WONDERFUL CONSTRUCTIVE DENTISTRY.

A remarkable instance of the constructive skill of a dentist has come to our knowledge. The modern skill in surirery has largely advanced beyond that of the ancients, though the skill of the profession as physicians does not appear to have advanced in equal ratio with that of surgery. But dentistry is almost a new branch of the hoaling art, and, as practised by those in the upper rungs of the professional ladder, it may be said to be wholly a new art and scionce. Certainly, in no past time would anyone have attempted the reconstruction of a pair of jaws fitted with teeth in a living mouth, and to make those reconstructed jaws serviceable for chewing, speaking, etc. Yet such are the feats which modern science and skill have just accomplished iu Auokland. It appears that in July last a young woman named Miss O'Donnell, aged 16, the daughter of a settler residing at Kaeo, was interested in watching her brother clean a gun which had been returned the previous day. The gun was said to be uncharged, but no effort appears to have been made to prove the truth of this statement. While watching her brother cleaning the gun, the charge exploded, and the shot lodged in Miss O'Donnell's left cheek, injuring the sight of the right eye, smashing and carrying away the bones of the upper and lower jaws, and destroying every tooth in her head, save one. The pieces of jaw bone not carried away at the time had to be removed subsequently by Dr. Haines, but this was six months after the accident, the girl having remained the whole of that time without the necessary medical skill to attend to ker very serious injuries. After the pieces of decaying bone had been successfully removed by Dr. Haines, and proper attention paid to her, the many points of discharge which were in operation, owing to the presence of pieces of dead boue, soon ceased, and a general healing of thj wounds took place. After all the wonnds had been healed, Dr. Haines sent the patient to Mr W. H. Skeet, of the City Dental Rooms, Queen-street, who had not only to replace the teeth iu both upper and lower jaw, but also to supply the loss of bone so as to restore the natural expression of the face, This has been done so efficiently that little is now seen of the terrible effects of the accidental discharge of the fowling piece in July last. Some scars, of course, still remain, but even these will be softened down by increase of years. A most remarkable restoration and cure has been affected. The face and mouth have now quite a natural and pleasing appearance, and the patient is able to eat with oomfort aad pleasure, and can speak as distiuctly as ever. She has not yet returned to her Northern home, but will remain in town for a few weeks longer to ascertain whether any further alteration will have to bo made upon the plates, po as to add to her comfort. The cure, altogether, is one of the most remarkable in dental sciesce which has yet taken place.—Herald.