Vaccine Therapy Booklet ca. early 1900s
With a title like “Vaccine Therapy as Applied to Pyorrhea Alveolaris” you might wonder what disease this booklet is talking about. Would it surprise you to learn that this booklet is looking at vaccine treatments for gum disease? That’s right, pyorrhea alveolaris is a chronic periodontitis of the gums and tooth sockets which can result in the formation of pus and the loosening of teeth. At one time, vaccine therapy was explored as a potential treatment.
Pyorrhea Alveolaris is a periodontal disease of the gums and tooth sockets that can cause the formation of pus and the loosening of teeth. The gums become inflamed, and the underlying alveolar bone and the teeth start to break down. This can lead to bone and tooth loss.
Published works indicate that the disease was first described and named around 1746, and for more than 200 years dentists worked to find a cure or effective treatment to help slow down the progression of the disease. Different treatments and methods were experimented with, including giving oral solutions like ipecac and emetine hydrochloride, a drug produced from the ipecac root. Dentists also explored vaccine therapy as potential treatment in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and today those efforts are ongoing! Dentists are still trying to create a vaccine to cure periodontal gum disease, and a few different vaccines are currently in production.
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