[For the Teeth]


Transcription

Table of Contents

[For the Teeth]
Transcription
Translation
Precautions and preparations
2016.04.20, 2:40-3:30 pm
2016.04.26, 8:30am-12:30pm
2016.[Month].[Day], [hh]:[mm][am/pm]
<div>
<id>p046r_1</id>
<head>Pour les dents <m>huile de soufre</m></head>
<ab>Aulcuns les blanchissent avelq compositions <m>deau fort</m><lb/>
toutesfois on dict que cela par apres les corrompt &amp; Ils<lb/>
cause une noirceur On dict que l<m>huile de soufre</m> y<lb/>
est excellent Mays il le fault mestre de cest sorte Prenes<lb/>
aultant d<m>huile de girofles</m> comme il en pourroit tenir dans<lb/>
une coquille de <m>noix</m> Et aultant de <m>miel rosat</m> &amp; sept ou<lb/>
huict goutes dhuile de soufre &amp; mesle bien tout ensemble<lb/>
Et apres avoyr nettoyer les dents avelq un petit burin<lb/>
touche les legerement avelq un <del>bonne</del> peu de <m>cotton</m> trempe dans<lb/>
les susdicts huiles et luy laisse un peu puys crache ou te<lb/>
lave la bouche avelq <m>eau</m> tiede Et reiter deulx ou trois<lb/>
fois L<m>huile de soufre</m> penetre &amp; est corrosif <del>et l</del> Mays<lb/>
l<m>huile de girofle</m> &amp; le miel rosat le corrigent Use doncq<lb/>
avelq discretion</ab>
</div>

Translation


<div>
<id>p046r_1</id>
<head><m>Oil of sulfur</m> for the teeth</head>
<ab>Some people whiten them with compositions of <m><fr>eau forte</fr></m>, however one says that this corrupts them afterwards and causes them to blacken. One says that <m>oil of sulfur</m> is excellent, but it needs to be applied in this way: take as much <m>clove oil</m> as can be held in a <m>nutshell</m>, as much <m>rose honey</m>, and seven or eight drops of <m>oil of sulfur</m>, and put it all together, and after having cleaned the teeth with a small burin, touch them lightly with a <del>good</del> bit of <m>cotton</m> dipped in the aforementioned oils and leave it for a little while, then spit it out or rinse the mouth with tepid water, and repeat two or three times. <m>Oil of sulfur</m> penetrates and is corrosive, <del>and l</del> but the <m>clove oil</m> and the <m>rose honey</m> correct it. Therefore use it with discretion.</ab>
</div>

Precautions and preparations


This recipe compares several different ways of whitening teeth by using acid preparations. The first problem is to find teeth to conduct the experiment. Fortunately, I received a box of baby teeth donated by someone for this experiment.
The second problem is the evaluation of the efficacy. The recipe compares the effects of nitric acid and sulfuric acid preparations. Presumably, in order to have a clear result, the recipe should be used for a certain period. How should the efficacy be observed in a only-one-time experiment? As I did not have the time to repeat the application for every time. I decided just observe the effect in a one time application.
The third problem is the concentration of the acid solution. As the does not specify any information about concentration, I decided to use what I could get from the lab, which is the 65% nitric acid, and 15% sulfuric acid. I did not choose the high concentration sulfuric acid, because it is highly corrosive and dangerous to apply on human body.

Name: Xiaomeng Liu, Prof. Smith, Ludovic Touze-Peiffer
Date and Time:

2016.04.20, 2:40-3:30 pm

Location:Chandler 260
Subject: Sulfuric acid for the teeth

  1. This recipe compares several different ways of whitening teeth by using acid preparations. The first problem is to find teeth to conduct the experiment. Fortunately, I received a box of baby teeth donated by someone for this experiment.
  2. The second problem is the evaluation of the efficacy. The recipe compares the effects of eau fort (which I identified as nitric acid) and oil of sulfur (sulfuric acid) preparations. Presumably, in order to have a clear result, the recipe should be used for a certain period. How should the efficacy be observed in a only-one-time experiment? As I did not have the time to repeat the application for every time. I decided just observe the effect in a one time application.
  3. The third problem is the concentration of the acid solution. As the does not specify any information about concentration, I decided to use what I could get from the lab, which is the 65% nitric acid, and 15% sulfuric acid. I did not choose the high concentration sulfuric acid, because it is highly corrosive and dangerous to apply on human body.

During the first experiment, I decided to leave the nitric acid aside, and only conduct the experiment with different sulfuric acid solutions. I separated the teeth into four groups, with one or two teeth in one group, and apply different liquid on each group, respectively, 1) 15% sulfuric acid; 2) 15% sulfuric acid, rinse with water after applied; 3) mixture of 15% sulfuric, clove oil, and honey; 4) mixture of 15% sulfuric, clove oil, and honey, rinse with water after apply. In order to observe the change of color, we decided to use a color checker.

For making of the mixture, at first I decided to use 10ml in place of “one nutshell” suggested in the recipe. But then I realized I don’t need that much liquid to apply on just four teeth. I halved the amount of the clove oil and honey (which became 5 ml), and accordingly, the sulfuric acid was downsized into 4 drops.

After applying and rinsing, the teeth seems getting whiter, but the result was no so obvious as the teeth themselves were not stained at the start. Suggested by Joel, I decided to suspend the experiment, took the teeth home, soak them in black tea for a week to imitate the stains on the surface of teeth.

Then I stop the experiment and cleaned up the fume hood. The used teeth was kept in separate vials with labels marking the groups them belonged to.



Name: Xiaomeng Liu, Prof. Smith, Ludovic Touze-Peiffer
Date and Time:

2016.04.26, 8:30am-12:30pm

Location:Chandler 260
Subject: Sulfuric and Nitric acid for the teeth

After one week, the teeth was successfully covered with tea stain. This time, I refined my experiment design. I divided the teeth into six groups:

No concentrations of the acids are indicated in the recipe. Nor did I find any information on this issue in contemporary source. High concentration sulfuric acid is super corrosive, I assume the sulfuric acid applied on the teeth should be low concentration. The eau fort, a substance used mainly in metalwork and thus likely more corrosive on metals, should be more concentrated than the sulfuric acid. For the purpose of this experiment, I chose to use the 65% nitric acid and 15% sulfuric acid in the lab inventory.

Two of the six groups above correspond to the instructions in the recipe itself: “Nitric acid Group two” and the “Mixture” group. As the recipes recommend clove oil and honey to correct the corrosive nature of sulfuric acid, it became necessary to observe the reaction of sulfuric acid on its own. The standard process I developed included three repeated cycles of application and rinsing, but I was also curious to see what would happen if the respective acids were left on the teeth without any water rinse. An additional control group using just water seemed indispensable to demonstrate the stains were eliminated by the acids rather than simply washed away by the water.

The experiment showed 65% nitric acid was the most effective for teeth whitening; most of the tea stains were cleaned after applying and rinsing three times. The 15% sulfuric acid and the “mixture” worked similarly: both removed most of the tea stains while leaving small stains. Unsurprisingly, the water did not eliminate any stains at all. After soaking for two weeks, the teeth in Group One of both nitric acid and sulfuric acid appear to have some degree of corrosion. The teeth in the other groups, however, remain similar to their prior state.



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2016.[Month].[Day], [hh]:[mm][am/pm]

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ASPECTS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN MAKING FIELD NOTES