A dental care source quoted by Frank Muir

[bunnyjadwiga]

From Sir John Harrington's 1609 English edition of the Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum:

If in your teeth you hap to be tormented,
This means some little worms therein do breed:
Which pain (if heed be taken) may be prevented,
By keeping clean your teeth when as you feed.
Burn Frankincense (a gum not evil scented)
Put Henbane into this, and Onion seed,
And in a Tunnel to the Tooth that's hollow,
Convey the smoke thereof, and ease shall follow.

Ease will definitely follow-- henbane's a narcotic! Too often taking this prescription for tooth pain would lead to endless ease in death.

On the other hand, it's quite clear that the author warns that cleaning one's teeth is necessary to prevent tooth [decay] and resulting pain.

Comments

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

...and in fact hyoscine, the toxic principle of henbane, was what Dr. Crippen used on his wife....

[amazon-42.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine had her gums turned into hamburger...uhm...worked on...recently, and spent a few days in a similar "ease" on the couch. When she woke up, her 10 year old had made her a "breakfast buffet" of 5 small bowls of different kinds of chips, with a large bowl at the end..."See, mommy, you can pick any combination you want!"