Clemens Maria Franz von Bönninghausen

On Toothache

I believe that this learned society, of which I have the honor to be a member, expects that the subject of my paper will bear some relation to homoeopathy. In answer to this supposed expectation, I will endeavor, briefly, to prove how a medicine, producing a disease in a healthy subject, will relieve a like natural disease. To fix your attention on a suitable instance, I choose a complaint which, indeed, is not dangerous, but often, from the intensity of pain, reduces the patient almost to despair. This complaint, under ordinary treatment, can only be cured completely by the removal of the offending part; but for its relief the Materia Medica contains a great number of remedies, and it will never permanently disappear without the application of the specific remedy-I mean the toothache.

There are certainly not many in the civilized world who are not more or less affected by this complaint, and it is well known how little relief can be brought by the so-called rational medicine. In addition to the extraction of the bad tooth there are very few other remedies, and these are applicable only in some cases, and even in these the results are very uncertain. Therefore all the known house-remedies are at first applied, often to the great detriment of the health, and when they have been taken without relief, the patient goes to a dentist, to get relief by the extraction, though he knows that it is a tooth lost for his whole life, and experience has shown us that after such sort of relief the next tooth often becomes affected.

Homoeopathy does not pretend to cure all the different kinds of toothache, either quickly or forever, but it can give relief in the greatest number of cases, and acts in the same manner as in the cure of all other diseases. According to the principles of homoeopathy, the toothache is merely a symptom of an internal uneasiness of the vital power, which never exists alone, but is followed by many other symptoms, though the latter are so few and obscure, that they are not remarked but by accurate observation.

The totality of the symptoms of a disease gives a perfect picture of the disease itself, and indicates the most useful remedy in accordance with the great principle "similia similibus curantur." As a painter cannot draw a perfect picture by the delineation of one feature, as the eyes, or nose, or mouth, so neither can the homoeopathist cure a disease by looking only at one symptom. The great characteristic of a good homoeopathic practitioner is to take together all the present symptoms, and then to analyze the most prominent of them. The difference, therefore, between allopathy and homoeopathy is that, in the former, numbers of remedies are mixed together for a cure of disease, and in the latter only one remedy is employed, which meets the demands of the case, that is, of the symptoms present. It is therefore necessary that the homoeopathist should know all the pathogenetic effects of the remedy he selects.

Homoeopathy has many remedies which in the healthy state will produce toothache. As it is impossible to enumerate now all the different kinds of toothache, and their homoeopathic treatment, I will only give a few examples how Homoeopathy acts in such cases. I choose for this purpose a peculiar kind of toothache, but still of common occurrence, viz., the throbbing pains in the teeth, the pulsative pains, which are produced by thirty-five remedies, but for the relief of which kind of toothache I have used only sixteen, and with the best result.

I. After a cold, produced by exposure to an easterly wind, a fever with great congestion towards the head frequently takes place, together with a burning heat in the face, frequent and hard pulse, and great agitation of body and mind. To these symptoms may be added, violent throbbing toothache, chiefly on one side, and occupying the whole jaw, with redness of the cheek. In such cases Aconite is the only specific.

II. Another kind of throbbing pain in the teeth, produced also very often by cold, but without fever, will be cured by Causticum. It is almost always accompanied by painful sensibility, swelling and ready bleeding of the gums, with dragging pains in the muscles of the face, in the eyes and ears.

Causticum case

I was myself affected last winter for several days with this complaint, because I did not understand, from the absence of the other principal symptoms, which was the right remedy to select. After having employed, without relief, many remedies, I was cured in two hours by taking one dose of Causticum, and from that time I have not suffered from a similar toothache. The toothache to which Causticum is appropriate is always of a chronic nature, Causticum having a long medicinal action; but remedies whose actions are limited to a short period will never affect this kind of toothache.

Chamomilla case

I remember my wife was seized with violent toothache of the kind I have just described. As I was absent from home Dr. B., who attended at that time my suffering wife, gave her at first Aconite, in consequence of the feverish symptoms; as they were not diminished, on the next day he gave her Pulsatilla, which did not produce the slightest effect; the third day Bryonia was administered; but this remedy also gave no relief. Dr. B., who now thought that Homoeopathy was insufficient, applied, on the fourth day, eighteen leeches, and gave a mixture, which produced for the first a short time relief; but after a quarter of an hour the same violent toothache returned, and became insupportable. The fifth day I returned, at four P. M., from my journey, and found my wife suffering from the intensest pain. After having inquired into what had been done for her, and having well examined her state, I gave her at once a dose of Chamomilla. At five o'clock the pain ceased and the swelling of the cheek disappeared.

China Officinalis case

I remember chiefly one case which happened to me whilst travelling through the country. A young girl, well featured and pleasant to look at, had become, when I saw her again, pale and thin. She suffered from violent throbbings in the teeth, increased chiefly after meals and at night, and were slightly relieved by strong pressure and biting on the teeth, while a slight touch rendered the pains insupportable. In the meantime she had continual diarrhoea, and profuse night-sweats; she was very weak and could scarcely walk about. As she begged me to relieve her suffering, I gave her a small dose of China, and the next morning, when I set off, she told me, highly delighted, that she had had a very good night, had no toothache, and had been free from night-sweat; and when I called on her some months afterwards, I found her again nice-looking and handsome.

Coffea Cruda case

Last Christmas I called upon a friend's family, who lived strictly according to the rules of the homoeopathic diet, and never took coffee. I found the housewife suffering from violent toothache; the pain was throbbing, and the patient ran crying from one room to another, complaining of insupportable pain; though she confessed that sometimes the pains were not so intense, yet they affected her very much. The account of her sufferings was interrupted by crying, and she behaved herself with a certain hastiness, like a person distracted, which last symptom struck me the more, as I knew her consistent and firm character when she was in health.
I gave her at once a small dose of Coffea cruda 6, and after two minutes the throbbings disappeared, and the remaining sensibility of the part affected was taken off in five minutes afterwards by Ignatia. The whole evening now passed in the usual way, and during the week I stopped there nothing similar happened. Some days ago I saw her again, when she told me that she had not had any attack of toothache since.

Pulsatilla Pratensis case

About three years ago, when traveling, I arrived towards evening at a hotel, where I found some friends from the neighbourhood assembled, and among them the landlord's doctor. Some minutes after my arrival, the eldest daughter of the family begged me to relieve her toothache, telling me that for more than a fortnight she had experienced an attack, which came on after sunset, and lasted till midnight; that nothing had been found to give permanent relief, only that by walking in the open air, or standing at an open window, the pain was somewhat mitigated. This statement was confirmed by the doctor. As it was not the proper place to question her minutely about her other complaints, I gave her from my own box one dose of Pulsatilla 30. The result exceeded my expectation; for before I could return the box to my pocket, she cried out, to the astonishment of the whole company, "The pain is all gone." The young physician, who had but lately taken his degree, surprised by this fact, said that this cure, if it should last, would be most remarkable.
I then reasoned backwards: where Pulsatilla acted so quickly, there must be also its characteristic symptoms; and replied to him, if the patient followed only a week the rules for the homoeopathic diet, she would not only lose the toothache for good, but be cured of any other complaints she might have. The young Æsculapius was quite puzzled at this, and asked what complaints.

I told him now some characteristic symptoms of this remedy, viz.: the prevalent shivering, great thirst, low spirits, insupportable heat, want of sleep before midnight, want of appetite, and dislike to fat food etc. He then pretended I had ascertained all these particulars before, and when it was proved that I had just arrived, and had not previously examined the patient, he exclaimed, in some displeasure, that her relatives agreed with me out of courtesy. I replied that I would tell him something more in private, and he should afterwards ask if it was true. On his assenting, I told him that the patient was also suffering from mucous diarrhoea; that her monthly periods appeared too late, at intervals of five weeks, and were only of a few days' duration, with pain in the back and cramps in the abdomen. He then went to her, and pretended I had told him that she suffered from constipation, and that the catamenia were too early and abundant; to which she replied that in these respects I was mistaken, for she complained just of the contrary, and all that she answered to his inquiries agreed exactly with what I had before told him. Some months afterwards, when I saw this young lady again, she joyfully thanked me for having cured her of all her complaints. Whether this young physician afterwards studied Homoeopathy I do not know, but I doubt it, as I have never heard of him since.

Sabina case

To the more rarely-employed remedies against the throbbing in the teeth belongs Sabina. Several cases occurred to me in which it was the only specific. This kind of toothache appeared also towards the evening and in the night, especially when the patient was warm in bed, and after meals, and with a sensation as if the tooth would burst, followed by a throbbing in all the vessels, frequent empty retching, and especially in females; abundant discharge of light-colored blood, even not at the time of the catamenia. In one case, a pain like that of gout in the right toe was taken off by an external remedy, and afterwards this kind of toothache appeared, which by one dose of Sabina was quickly cured, and neither the toothache nor the pain in the toe ever returned, precisely as I had foretold, the pain in the toe as well as the toothache being covered by Sabina.

Hyoscyamus Niger case

A more frequent kind of throbbing is that for which Hyoscyamus is the specific. It appears generally in the morning, and is almost always caused by a cold. There is throbbing in the tooth itself, whilst in the gums a tearing sensation prevails, and in masticating, the tooth seems loose, as if it would fall out. There is always a congestion of blood towards the head, with great heat all over the body. In violent attacks there is a sense of strangulation, with difficulty of deglutition, and cramps, with a sense of mental fatigue. One small dose of Hyoscyamus will cure this complaint in a very short time. Two years ago, when traveling, I cured, with this remedy, a young lady, who had become very ill on account of jealousy and rage about her former lover, by whom she had been forsaken. She complained of throbbing in the teeth, especially after midnight; she had fever, with great redness of face, and long fits of delirium, in which she tried to run away, so that it was necessary to watch her. The first dose of Hyoscyamus took away the toothache and delirium; the second dose, which I left for her, to be taken a week after the first, cured her of all the other complaints.

In only one case of throbbing in the teeth was Platina the specific remedy. The pain was like a pulsative digging through the whole right jaw, increased especially towards the evening, and by rest, whilst the patient several times began involuntarily to cry out. At first Pulsatilla seemed to me indicated, but it did not answer.
The next day, when a friend of hers brought me the report of the case, I asked her more particularly for the accompanying symptoms, and I soon perceived why Pulsatilla had no effect. The throbbing was followed by a clammy numbness, which affected the whole suffering part. In the mean time the monthly period was too early and abundant, and in her mind had been lately observed a pride, with conceit, and contempt of all about her, which had never before been seen. Here every homoeopathist would have administered, as I did, Platina which cured in a few hours, not only the whole toothache, but ameliorated her spirits, and restored the catamenia to their former regularity.

I myself was complaining some months ago of such a toothache, accompanied by a swelling of the lower jawbone to the size of a walnut. As soon as I perceived it, I took one small dose of a Silicea, on which the pain immediately ceased, and the swelling of the bone the next morning had disappeared.

Last year I cured, by a single and very small dose of this remedy, a robust woman, who was affected with the above-mentioned symptoms, among which the toothache and the prosopalgia were the most prominent; both of which symptoms, and especially the latter, had for some years returned twice every week, and were almost insupportable. Neither of them has recurred since I gave her the dose of Spigelia.

An essay read by him, in 1835, before the allopathic medical society, of munster.
American journal of homoeopathy (kirby), vol. vi, page 170; american homoeopathic review, vol. vi, page 97, 133; homoeopathic times (London).