periods.

In fact, though Guy de Chauliac frankly confesses that he touches on the
subject of dentistry only in order to complete his presentation of the
subject of surgery and not because he has anything of his own to say
with regard to the subject, there is much that is of present-day
interest in his brief paragraphs. He observes that operations on the
teeth are special and belong to the _dentatores_, or dentists, to whom
doctors had given them over. He considers, however, that the operations
in the mouth should be performed under the direction of a physician. It
is in order to give physicians the general principles with which they
may be able to judge of the advisability or necessity for dental
operations that his short chapters are written. If their advice is to be
of value, physicians should know the various methods of treatment
suitable for dental diseases, including mouth washes, gargles,
masticatories, anointments, rubbings, fumigations, cauterizations,
fillings, filings, and the various manual operations. He says that the
_dentator_ must be provided with the appropriate instruments, among
which he names scrapers, rasps, straight and curved spatumina,
elevators, simple and with two branches, toothed tenacula, and many
different forms of probes and canulas. He should also have small
scalpels, tooth trephines, and files.

Chauliac is particularly emphatic in his insistence on not permitting
alimentary materials to remain in cavities, and suggests that if
cavities between the teeth tend to retain food material they should even
be filed in such a way as to prevent these accumulations. His
directions for cleansing the teeth were rather detailed. His favorite
treatment for wounds was wine, and he knew that he succeeded by means of
it in securing union by first intention. It is not surprising, then, to
find that he recommends rinsing of the mouth with wine as a precaution
against dental decay. A vinous decoction of wild mint and of pepper he
considered particularly beneficial, though he thought that dentifrices,
either powder or liquid, should also be used. He seems to recommend the
powder dentifrices as more efficacious. His favorite prescription for a
tooth powder, while more elaborate, resembles to such an extent, at
least some, if not indeed most of those, that are used at the present
time, that it seems worth while giving his directions for it. He took
equal parts of cuttle bone, small white sea-shells, pumice s