MOUTH, Diseases of the. The principal diseases of the mouth may be classified as fol lows: Inflammation of the mucous membrane and its results; epulis, gumboil, ranula, sali vary calculus and salivary fistula.
Inflammation of the Mouth (Stomatitis).
— This disorder is usually caused by local irri tants, such as scalding drinks, corrosive sub stances, jagged teeth or tartar. Suitable reme dies are: Cooling and demulcent washes, soft food, building up of the strength and removal of tartar or other sources of irritation. Inflam mation invading the mucous follicles, usually in debilitated children or from the irritation of teeth or as the result of an eruption (herpes) is follicular stomatitis. It is attended with thin spots of white exudation, but there is no breach in the surface of the mucous membrane. The patient swallows with difficulty; the mouth is hot and tender; the submaxillary glands may he swollen. The remedies are as above given, with the addition of a disinfectant to the mouth washes. The terms aphtlize and thrush (q.v.) are given to a stomatitis, usually follicular, at tended by curd-like exudations with ulceration beneath the exudates (ulcerative stomatitis). The disease may be conveyed to the nipples of the nursing woman. In true aphthze the exuda tions are due to a microscopic fungus, the Oidium albicans. In treatment the child is to be carefully fed, its mouth kept clean and dis infected and the bowels regulated. Borax or tincture of myrrh, well diluted, is a good mouth-wash. Do not use honey. Canker re fers to isolated superficial ulcerations of the mucous membrane, usually the result of de bility and dyspepsia. Remedy these two con ditions and touch the spots occasionally with nitrate of silver. Gangrenous stomatitis (noma) or cancrum oris means a more or less sloughing ulceration, usually upon the gums or cheeks. The breath is fetid; there is great
swelling with soreness, high fever, marked de bility, etc. It may follow measles or some other debilitating blood-disease. The treatment re quires a physician.
Bpulis.-- This is a smooth round or lobular tumor springing from some portion of the alveolar processes and the periosteum cov ering them, usually from the lower jaw. It is more frequent in women, and may be caused by irritation from decayed teeth.
Gumboil.— The gum-disease so named is a circumscribed inflammation of the mucous membrane or of the periosteum covering a portion of an alveolar process, caused usually by a decayed tooth. Wash the mouth fre quently with hot water, have the boil lanced or cause it to discharge by applications of hot figs (boiled in milk) and have sources of irri tation removed.
Ranula.— This term denotes a cystic forma tion in the mucous membrane beneath the tongue, sometimes originating in the duct of a sub-lingual or submaxillary gland. It is either congenital or acquired. Treatment consists in the excision of the cyst, generally through the mouth and rarely through an incision under the jaw.
Salivary Calculus.— Such is the name given to a concretion, mainly of phosphate of lime, formed in the duct of one of the salivary glands, but rarely in the glands themselves. Sometimes it forms around a foreign body, such as a seed or a bit of food or tartar, and sometimes produces a ranula.
Salivary Fistula.-- A fistula of this charac ter is an abnormal canal opening upon the cheek, and arising from the duct of the parotid gland as the result of ulceration.