Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/866

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�� ����A group of children suffering from infantile paralysis receiving massage. These patients generally are under five years of age, although the disease sometimes attacks much older children

��that time his pain had become well nigh unbearable. He could not move about even with the aid of a cane, and was forced to give up his work. At the hospital his teeth were cleaned. Two weeks later he was free from pain. He discarded his cane and arch supports and returned to work without suffering the slightest inconve- nience from his feet.

This case was diagnosed as infectious arthritis, which means an inflammation of the joints caused l)y an infection. The in- fection which caused all the trouble had its origin in septic pyorrhea, a disease of the gums, sometimes called Rigg's disease, caused by an infection of the tissues sur- rounding the teeth. Particles of food lotlgc in the cre\ices of the teeth, decay, and be- come breeding grounds for germs. Tartar forms at the base of the teeth in little pockets. If this is neglected, sm.ill pockets of pus develop which lill with bacteria. The pus discharges in minute quantities, passes into the throat and enters the in- testines. Sometimes the micro-organisms it carries establish themselves in the tonsils. The result? Tonsilitis. If the bacteria pass into the alimentary canal they are absorbed by the s>-stem and set up intl.immation at the point ollering least resistance. This freiiuenlh' is found in the knees, elbows, or the joints in the fiei. Do you wonder now what was the matter with the detcclive?

Sometimes people sufTor for years from what they consider inllaimnatory rhcum.i- tism. They resign themselves to a life of pain when all that is necess.iry to t)blain relic f is to have their teeth cle.med. ne

��woman, treated at the Hospital for De- formities and Joint Diseases, sutTered so from this fonn of joint infection, which she thought was rheumatism, that she twice tried to commit suicide. For nine months she was without the use of both knees, both wrists and the left ankle. She was bedridden. She was carried into the hospital on a stretcher. Ten days after her teeth were cleaned she- walked out a well woman.

The Effects of Infantile Paralysis

Actual deformities may be caused in children and adults b\- a number of diseases chief among which are tubercular aft'ections (If the bones, of the spine (Potts Disease), infantile ])aralysis and venereal diseases.

Of these perhas the most spectacular is infantile paralysis. It is given that name because it attacks children and paralyzes its \ictims. It is communicable. New York experienced an epidemic in I907, and dur- ing the |>ast summer another swept o\er certain districts of the city, causing the greatest anxiety and terror among parents. And well it might; for the most wholesome, sturdv' child ma\' be rerilli.int cures in ( .ises which h.id been regarded as hopeless.

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