WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
Of Medicine, in Eight Books cover

Of Medicine, in Eight Books

Chapter 146: CHAP. XIII. OF PARULIDES AND ULCERS IN THE GUMS.
By Aulus Cornelius Celsus
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

Health & MedicineHistory - Ancient

About This Book

It gathers medical knowledge into eight concise books that combine clinical observation, diagnosis, prognosis, and practical treatment. Chapters cover diet and regimen, descriptions of internal diseases and external injuries, medicinal preparations, and operative techniques with instructions for wound care and minor surgery. The text emphasizes careful observation and clear symptom description, pairing theoretical causes with hands-on remedies and measurements. Explanatory notes and technical detail support immediate clinical use, making the collection a practical reference for assessing, managing, and treating a broad range of conditions.

CHAP. XIII. OF PARULIDES AND ULCERS IN THE GUMS.

Some painful tubercles also grow sometimes in the gums, near the teeth; the Greeks call them parulides[ GJ ]. It is proper at the beginning, to rub these gently with powdered salt, or with a mixture of fossile salt calcined, and cypress and catmint; then to wash the mouth with the cream of lentils, withal holding the mouth open, till the phlegm is sufficiently discharged. In a greater inflammation the same medicines are to be used, as were directed before, for ulcers of the mouth; and a little soft lint is to be rolled up in one of those compositions, which I said were called antherae, and that must be put betwixt the tooth and the gum. But if the tumour be too hard to admit of that, the steam of hot water, by means of a spunge, must be used externally, and cerate applied. If a suppuration appears, the steam must be used longer; and a hot decoction of figs in mulse, must also be held in the mouth. And the tubercle must be cut before it be quite ripe, lest the pus, by continuing there too long hurt the bone. If the tumour be pretty large, it is better to cut it out entirely, so that the tooth may be freed on both sides. When the pus is discharged, if the wound be slight, it is sufficient to hold warm water in the mouth, and to foment externally with the same vapour; if it be larger, to make use of the cream of lentils, and the same medicines, by which other ulcers in the mouth are cured.

Other ulcers, likewise, frequently arise in the gums, which are relieved in the same manner, as those in the other parts of the mouth. However, it is highly proper to chew privet, and hold the juice of it in the mouth. It sometimes happens, too, that from an ulcer in the gum, whether it be a parulis or not, pus is discharged for a long time, when a tooth is either rotten, or broke, or the bone otherwise spoilt; and that commonly proceeds from a fistula. When this is the case, the part must be opened, and the tooth extracted; if there be any exfoliation, it must be taken out; if any part of it is spoilt, it must be scraped. After which, the same methods must be taken, as were prescribed before in the cure of other ulcers. But if the gums leave the teeth, the same antherae are helpful. It does good also to chew pears or apples not very ripe, and to keep their juice in the mouth. And mild vinegar held in the mouth may have the same effect.