Editing Toothache (section)

==History, society and culture==
[[File:Nuremberg chronicles f 120r 2.png|thumb|right|[[Saint Apollonia]], patron saint for toothaches, holds one of her own extracted teeth in a pair of forceps ([[Nuremberg Chronicle]], [[Hartmann Schedel]], 1493)]]
[[File:Cocaine for kids.png|thumbnail|right|American advertisement from 1885 offering "instantaneous cure" for toothache with "Cocaine toothache drops".<ref>{{cite web|title=Truly Marvelous Mental Medicine, Early remedies|url=http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/medshow/cocainedrops.html|access-date=February 11, 2014}}</ref> [[Cocaine]] was the first [[local anesthetic]], but its addictive and other dangerous side effects eventually led to its use being virtually abandoned by modern health care.]]
[[File:Carl Bloch, En munk, der spejler sig, 1875, 0073NMK, Nivaagaards Malerisamling.jpg|thumb|A monk with a toothache examines himself in a mirror, painting by [[Carl Bloch]] from 1875.<ref>{{Cite web | title = Carl Bloch, A monk examines himself in a mirror, 1875 | publisher = Nivaagaard Collection | url = http://www.nivaagaard.dk/en/samling-en/carl-bloch-1/}}</ref> ]]
The first known mention of tooth decay and toothache occurs on a [[Sumer]]ian clay tablet now referred to as the "Legend of the worm". It was written in [[cuneiform]], recovered from the [[Euphrates]] valley, and dates from around 5000 BC.<ref name=Suddick1990>{{cite journal|vauthors=Suddick RP, Harris NO |title=Historical perspectives of oral biology: a series|journal=Critical Reviews in Oral Biology and Medicine|year=1990|volume=1|issue=2|pages=135–51|doi=10.1177/10454411900010020301|pmid=2129621|doi-access=free}}</ref> The belief that tooth decay and dental pain is caused by [[tooth worm]]s is found in ancient India, Egypt, Japan, and China,<ref name=Suddick1990 /> and persists until the [[Age of Enlightenment]].  Although toothache is an ancient problem,<ref name=Ingle2008>{{cite book|vauthors=Ingle JI, Bakland LK, Baumgartner JC |title=Endodontics|year=2008|publisher=BC Decker|location=Hamilton, Ontario|isbn=978-1-55009-333-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aV1kEf7mlckC&pg=PA392|edition=6th}}</ref>{{rp|48–52}} it is thought that ancient people suffered less dental decay due to a lack of refined sugars in their diet. On the other hand, diets were frequently coarser, leading to more tooth wear.<ref name="Ancient dentistry">{{cite web|title=Ancient dentistry|url=http://www.bda.org/museum/the-story-of-dentistry/ancient-modern/ancient-dentistry.aspx|publisher=British Dental Association 2010|access-date=December 13, 2013|archive-date=December 14, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214003101/http://www.bda.org/museum/the-story-of-dentistry/ancient-modern/ancient-dentistry.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> For example, hypotheses hold that ancient Egyptians had a lot of tooth wear due to desert sand blown on the wind mixing with the dough of their bread.<ref>{{cite web|title=Why did the Ancient Egyptians suffer from toothache?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/why-did-the-ancient-egyptians-suffer-from-toothache/5158.html|publisher=British Broadcasting Company 2013|access-date=December 13, 2013}}</ref> The ancient Egyptians also wore [[amulet]]s to prevent toothache.<ref name="Ancient dentistry" /> The [[Ebers papyrus]] (1500 BC) details a recipe to treat "gnawing of the blood in the tooth", which included fruit of the gebu plant, onion, cake, and dough, to be chewed for four days.<ref name=Ingle2008 />{{rp|48–52}}

[[Archigenes]] of Apamea describes use of a mouthwash made by boiling [[gallnut]]s and hallicacabum in vinegar, and a mixture of roasted earthworms, [[spikenard]] ointment, and crushed spider eggs.<ref name=Ingle2008 />{{rp|48–52}} [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] advises toothache sufferers to ask a frog to take away the pain by moonlight. [[Claudius]]' physician [[Scribonius Largus]] recommends ''"fumigations made with the seeds of the [[hyoscyamus]] scattered on burning charcoal&nbsp; ... followed by rinsings of the mouth with hot water, in this way&nbsp; ... small worms are expelled."''<ref name="Ancient dentistry" />

In Christianity, [[Saint Apollonia]] is the patron saint of toothache and other dental problems. She was an early Christian [[martyr]] who was persecuted for her beliefs in [[Alexandria]] during the [[Roman Empire|Imperial Roman age]]. A mob struck her repeatedly in the face until all her teeth were smashed. She was threatened with being burned alive unless she renounced Christianity, but she instead chose to throw herself onto the fire. Supposedly, toothache sufferers who invoke her name will find relief.<ref name="Ancient dentistry" />

In the 15th century, priest-physician [[Andrew Boorde]] describes a "deworming technique" for the teeth: "''And if it [toothache] do come by worms, make a candle of wax with Henbane seeds and light it and let the perfume of the candle enter into the tooth and gape over a dish of cold water and then you may take the worms out of the water and kill them on your nail."''<ref name=Ingle2008 />{{rp|48–52}}

[[Albucasis]] (Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi) used [[cautery]] for toothache, inserting a red-hot needle into the pulp of the tooth.<ref name=Ingle2008 />{{rp|48–52}} The medieval surgeon [[Guy de Chauliac]] used a [[camphor]], [[sulfur]], [[myrrh]], and [[Asafoetida|asafetida]] mixture to fill teeth and cure toothworm and toothache.<ref name=Ingle2008 />{{rp|48–52}} French anatomist [[Ambroise Paré]] recommended: ''"Toothache is, of all others, the most atrocious pain that can torment a man, being followed by death. Erosion (i.e. dental decay) is the effect of an acute and acrid humour. To combat this, one must recourse to cauterization&nbsp; ... by means of cauterization&nbsp; ... one burns the nerve, thus rendering it incapable of again feeling or causing pain."''<ref name=Ingle2008 />{{rp|48–52}}

In the [[Elizabethan era]], toothache was an ailment associated with lovers,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nfs.sparknotes.com/muchado/page_106.html|title=No Fear Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing: Act 3, Scene 2|website=nfs.sparknotes.com|access-date=April 2, 2018|archive-date=March 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326005015/http://nfs.sparknotes.com/muchado/page_106.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> as in [[Philip Massinger|Massinger]] and [[John Fletcher (playwright)|Fletcher]]'s play ''[[The False One]]''. Toothache also appears in a number of [[William Shakespeare]]'s plays, such as ''[[Othello]]'' and ''[[Cymbeline]]''. In ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'', Act III scene 2, when asked by his companions why he is feeling sad, a character replies that he has toothache so as not to admit the truth that he is in love. There is reference to "toothworm" as the cause of toothache and to tooth extraction as a cure ("draw it"). In Act V, scene 1, another character remarks: ''"For there was never yet philosopher That could endure the toothache patiently."''<ref>{{cite book|author=Shakespeare W|title=Much Ado About Nothing|year=c. 1599|chapter=Act V, scene 1|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kwkOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA129|publisher=In: The Works of William Shakespeare, Globe Edition, London: Macmillan and Co. p. 129 (1866)}}</ref> In modern parlance, this translates to the observation that philosophers are still human and feel pain, even though they claim they have transcended human suffering and misfortune.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nfs.sparknotes.com/muchado/page_188.html|title=No Fear Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing: Act 5, Scene 1, Page 2|website=nfs.sparknotes.com|access-date=April 2, 2018|archive-date=April 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403065517/http://nfs.sparknotes.com/muchado/page_188.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In effect, the character is rebuking his friend for trying to make him feel better with philosophical platitudes.

The Scottish poet, [[Robert Burns]] wrote "Address to the Toothache" in 1786, inspired after he suffered from it. The poem elaborates on the severity of toothache, describing it as the "hell o' a' diseases" (hell of all diseases).<ref>{{cite web|author=Burns R|title=Address to the toothache|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/robertburns/works/address_to_the_toothache/|publisher=British Broadcasting Company|access-date=December 13, 2013}}</ref>

A number of plants and trees include "toothache" in their common name. Prickly ash ([[Zanthoxylum americanum]]) is sometimes termed "toothache tree", and its bark, "toothache bark"; whilst [[Ctenium Americanum]] is sometimes termed "toothache grass", and [[Acmella oleracea]] is called "toothache plant". Pellitory ([[Anacyclus pyrethrum]]) was traditionally used to relieve toothache.{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}
[[File:Tooth_god(Wasya_Dyo).jpg|thumb|"toothache tree", Vaishya Dev shrine, [[Kathmandu]], [[Nepal]].]]
In [[Kathmandu]], [[Nepal]], there is a shrine to Vaishya Dev, the [[Newa people|Newar]] god of toothache. The shrine consists of part of an old tree to which sufferers of toothache nail a [[rupee]] coin in order to ask the god to relieve their pain. The lump of wood is called the "toothache tree" and is said to have been cut from the legendary tree, Bangemudha. On this street, many traditional tooth pullers still work and many of the city's dentists have advertisements placed next to the tree.<ref>{{cite book|author=Burdett J|title=Godfather of Kathmandu|year=2012|publisher=Constable & Robinson|location=New York|isbn=978-1-4721-0094-8}}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2014}}<ref>{{cite book|vauthors=Reed D, McConnachie J, Knowles P, Stewart P |title=Nepal|year=2002|publisher=Rough Guides|location=London|isbn=978-1-85828-899-4|edition=5th}}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2014}}

The phrase ''toothache in the bones'' is sometimes used to describe the pain in certain types of [[diabetic neuropathy]].<ref>{{cite book|vauthors=LeRoith D, Taylor SI, Olefsky JM |title=Diabetes mellitus : a fundamental and clinical text|year=2004|publisher=Lippincott Williams & Wilkins|location=Philadelphia|isbn=9780781740975|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hgiuDHVUuT4C&q=%22toothache+in+the+bones%22&pg=PA1342|edition=3rd}}</ref>{{rp|1342}}
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