Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900: Being Mainly a Clinical Study of the Nature and Effects of Injuries Produced by Bullets of Small CalibreMakins, George Henry
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Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900: Being Mainly a Clinical Study of the Nature and Effects of Injuries Produced by Bullets of Small Calibre
Makins, George Henry
Gunshot wounds; South African War, 1899-1902; Surgery, Military
In the treatment of fractures of the upper jaw, interference was rarely
needed. In the case of the mandible, a remark has already been made as
to the advisability of removing fragments when the neck of the condyle
has suffered comminution. The removal of loose fragments is necessary in
all cases in which the buccal cavity is involved. Experience in fracture
of the limbs has shown a tendency to quiet necrosis when comminution was
severe, in spite of primary union. This is no doubt dependent on the
very free separation of fragments on the entry and exit aspects from
their enveloping periosteum. In the case of the mandible, considerable
necrosis is inevitable, and much time is saved by the primary removal of
all actually loose fragments.
A splint of the ordinary chin-cap type with a four-tailed bandage meets
all further requirements, but the patients often object to them. Cases
in which the fragments could be fixed by wiring the teeth were not
common, as the latter had so frequently been carried away. The usual
precautions as to maintaining oral asepsis were especially necessary.
The results of fractures of the mandible were, in so far as my
experience went, remarkably good, as deformity was seldom considerable.
The absence of obliquity and the effect of primary local shock were no
doubt favourable elements, little primary displacement from muscular
action occurring.
Wounds of the _cheek_ healed readily, and the same was noticeable of the
lips. Wounds of the _tongue_ healed with remarkable rapidity when of the
simple perforating type, often with little or no swelling or evidence of
contusion. At the end of a few days it was often difficult to localise
them.
In connection with this subject a remarkable case which occurred at the
fighting at Koodoosberg Drift is worthy of mention, although the
projectile was a shell fragment and not a bullet of small calibre.
(84) A Highlander was the unfortunate possessor of an entire
set of upper teeth set in a gold plate. A small fragment of a
shell perforated the upper lip by an irregular aperture, and
struck the teeth in such a manner as to turn the posterior edge
of the plate towards the tongue, which latter was cut into two
halves transversely through to the base.
The patient asserted that the plate had been driven down his
throat, but nothing was palpable either in the fauces or on
external examination of the neck. He spoke distinctly, but
there was dysphagia as far as solids were concerned.
On the second day swelling of the neck due to early cellulitis
developed, especially on the left side, and signs of laryngeal
obstruction became prominent. Chloroform was administered, but
on the introduction of the finger into the fauces, respiration
failed and a hasty tracheotomy had to be performed. No foreign
body was palpable with the finger in the pharynx.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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