"The very same one that troubled Mrs. P--for several months, night
and day."
"Was the pain low and throbbing?" I eagerly asked.
"Yes; that was exactly the kind of pain she had."
"And did it continue so long as several months?"
"Oh, yes. But that wasn't the worst! the aching was caused by the
formation of an abscess."
"A what?" A cold chill passed over me.
"An abscess."
"At the root of her tooth?"
"Yes. But that wasn't so bad as its consequences; the abscess caused
the bone to decay, and produced what the doctors called a disease of
the antrum, which extended until the bone was eaten clear through,
so that the abscess discharged itself by the nostrils."
"Oh, horrible!" I exclaimed, feeling as sick as death, while the
pain in my tooth was increased fourfold. "How long did you say this
abscess was in forming?"
"Some months."
"Did she have an operation performed?" I have a terrible fear of
operations.
"Oh, yes. It was the only thing that saved her life. They scraped
all the flesh away on one cheek and then cut a hole through the
bone. This was after the tooth had been drawn, in doing which the
jaw-bone was broken dreadfully. It was months before it healed, or
before she could eat with any thing but a spoon."
This completely unmanned, or, rather, unwomanned me. I asked no more
questions, although my visitor continued to give me a good deal of
minute information on the subject of abscesses, and the dreadful
consequences that too frequently attended them. After she left
another friend called, to whom I mentioned the fact of having a very
bad tooth-ache, and asked her if she had ever known any one to have
an abscess at the root of a sound tooth.
She replied that tooth-ache from that cause was not unfrequent, and
that, sometimes, very bad consequences resulted from it. She advised
me, by all means, to have the tooth extracted.
"I can't bear the thought of that," I replied. "I never had but one
tooth drawn, and when I think of having another extracted I grow
cold all over."
"Still, that is much better than having caries of the jaw, which has
been known to attend an abscess at the root of a tooth."
"But this does not always follow?"
"No. It is of rare occurrence, I believe. Though no one knows when
such a disease exists, nor where it is going to terminate. Even
apart from caries of the jaw, the thing is painful enough. Mrs.
T--, an intimate friend of mine, suffered for nearly a mouth,
night and day, and finally had to have the tooth extracted, when her
mouth was so much inflamed, and so tender, that the slightest touch
caused the most exquisite pain. A tumor was found at the root of the
tooth as large as a pigeon's egg!"
This completed the entire overthrow of my nerves. I begged my
friend, in mercy to spare me any further relations of this kind. She
seemed half offended, and I had to explain the state of mind which
had been produced by what a former visitor had said. She, evidently,
thought me a very weak woman. No doubt I am.
"In the dumps again, Kate?" said my husband, when he returned home
in the evening. "What is the matter now?"
"Enough to put you or any one else in the dumps," I replied
fretfully. "This tooth-ache grows worse, instead of better."
"Does it, indeed? I am really very sorry. Can't any thing be done to
relieve you?"
"Nothing, I am persuaded. The tooth is sound, and there must be an
abscess forming at the root, to occasion so much pain."
"Who, in the name of common sense, has put this in your head?"
My husband was worried.
"Has Mrs. A--been here again?"
"No," was my simple response.
"Then what has conjured up this bugbear to frighten you out of your
seven senses?"
I didn't like this language at all. My husband seemed captious and
unreasonable. Dear soul! I supposed he had cause; for they say a
nervous woman is enough to worry a man's life out of him; and, dear
knows, I am nervous enough! But I had only my fears before me then:
I saw that my husband did not sympathize with me in the least. I
merely replied--
"It may be very well for you to speak to your wife in this way,
after she has suffered for nearly three days with a wretched
tooth-ache. If the tooth were at all decayed, or there were any
apparent cause for the pain, I could bear it well enough, and
wouldn't trouble you about it. But it is so clear to my mind now,
that nothing but a tumour forming at the root could produce such a
steady, deep-seated, throbbing pain, that I am with reason alarmed;
and, instead of sympathy from my husband I am met with something
very much like ridicule."
"My dear Kate," said my husband, tenderly, and in a serious voice,
"pardon my apparent harshness and indifference. If you are really so
serious about the matter, it may be as well to consult a dentist,
and get his advice. He may be able to relieve very greatly your
fears, if not the pain in your jaw."
"He will order the tooth to be extracted, I have not the least
doubt."
"If there should be a tumour at the root, it will be much safer to
have it out than let it remain."
A visit to the dentist at once was so strenuously urged by my
husband, that I couldn't refuse to go. I got myself ready, and we
went around before tea. I did not leave the house, however, before
making my husband promise he would not insist upon my having the
tooth taken out on the first visit. This he did readily.
The dentist, after examining very carefully the tooth pointed out to
him, said that he didn't believe that tooth ached at all.
"Not ache, doctor?" said I, a little indignantly.
"If you had it in your head, you would think it ached."
"Pardon me, madam," he returned, with a polite bow. "I did not mean
to say that you were not in pain. I only mean to say that I think
that you are mistaken in its exact locality."
"I don't see how I can be. I have had it long enough, I should
think, to determine its locality with some certainty."
"Let me examine your mouth again, madam," said the dentist.
This time he examined the right jaw--the pain was on the left side.
"I think I have found out the enemy," said he, as he took the
instrument from my mouth with which he had been sounding my teeth.
"The corresponding tooth on the other side has commenced decaying,
and the nerve is already slightly exposed."
"But what has that to do with this side?" I put my hand where the
pain was, as I spoke.
"It may have a good deal to do with it. We shall soon see." And he
went to his case of instruments.
"You are not going to extract it, doctor!" I rose from the operating
chair in alarm.
"Oh no, no, madam! I am only going to put something into it, to
destroy the sensibility of the nerve, previous to preparing it for
being filled. The tooth can still be preserved. We will know in a
minute or two whether all the difficulty lies here."
A preparation, in which I could perceive the taste and odour of
creosote, was inserted in the cavity of the decayed tooth. In less
than five seconds I was free from pain.
"I thought that was it," said the dentist, smiling. "A sound tooth
is not very apt to ache of itself. It is sometimes difficult to tell
which is the troublesome member. But we have discovered the
offending one this time, and will put an end to the disturbance he
has been creating."
I could say not a word. My husband looked at me with a humorous
expression in his eye. After we were in the street, he remarked,
pleasantly--
"No abscess yet, my dear. Were it not for physicians, who understand
their business, I am afraid your Job's comforters would soon have
you imagine yourself dying, and keep up the illusion until you
actually gave up the ghost."
"I really am ashamed of myself," I replied; "but you know how
shattered my nerves are, and how little a thing it takes to unsettle
me. I do wish my Job's comforters, as you call them, would have more
discretion than to talk to me as they do."
"Let them talk; you know it is all talk."
"No--not all talk. They relate real cases of disease and suffering,
and I immediately imagine that I have all the symptoms that
ultimately lead to the same sad results."
"Be a woman, Kate! be a woman," responded my husband.
This was all very well, and all easily said. I believe, however, I
am a woman, but a woman of the nineteenth century, with nerves far
too delicately strung. Ah me! if some of my kind friends would only
be a little more thoughtful, they would save me many a wretched day.
I hope this will meet the eyes of some of them, and that they will
read it to a little profit. It may save others, if it does not save
me from a repetition of such things as I have described.