Specimen Inavgvrale Medico-Chirvrgicvm De Odontalgia (Dissertation thesis)

Johann Gottfried Grün (Ioannes Godofredus Grün)

Specimen Inavgvrale Medico-Chirvrgicvm De Odontalgia (Dissertation thesis) (Innaugural medico-surgical thesis on dental pain), 1795, Jena, Typis Fiedler.

The thesis is dedicated to Carol Augustus, Duke of Saxony. Johann Grun had no other publication. He was from Finno-Russia, the southern part of Finland occupied by Russia at the time.

The 38 page long thesis on dental pain was neither original nor extensive. By the early 18th century German, French and English authors have produced a great number of original literature. These include Friedrich Hoffmann, Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, Philipp Pfaff, Lorenz Heister in Germany, Pierre Fauchard, Robert Bunon in France, Thomas Berdmore and John Hunter in England.

Not surprisingly, Grun quotes Albinus, Hoffman and Berdmore in the introduction. The thesis has n ine short chapters about different types of pain.
He distinguished 1. caries-associated pain (odontalgia cariosa), 2. dental pain called „sympathetic pain” (odontalgia sympatica), 3. pain caused by worms (odontalgia verminosa), 4. nervous pain (odontalgia nervosa), 5. pain due to inflammation (odontalgia inlamatoriam), 6. serous pain (odontalgia serosa), 7. arthritic pain (odontalgia arthritica), 8. gastric dental pain (odontalgia gastrica), due to acid reflux and erosion, and 9. rheumatic dental pain (odontalgia rheumatica).

He explains pain in the context of the humoral theory, something was already out of favor since 1628 when Harvey described the blood circulation.

It would be hard today to identify with most of this classification. Even for the end of the 18th century, his designation of pains seem out of date.

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^{Editorial notes by Andrew I Spielman.}