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"There's no point in making a mistake unless you understand the mistake so that you don’t make it again."
- Alfred Bester

Dispensing Tooth  
  A device shaped like a tooth that dispenses gas.  

Everyone trusted Dr. Yueh; his Suk school training forbid the taking of human life. But when he betrayed the Atreides, he offered Duke Leto an opportunity to avenge himself on the Baron Harkonnen.

"Be quiet, please, my poor Duke. You haven't much time.

That peg tooth I put in your mouth after the tumble at Narcal--that tooth must be replaced, in a moment, I'll render you unconscious and replace that tooth." He opened his hand, stared at something in it. "An exact duplicate, its core shaped most exquisitely like a nerve. It'll escape the usual detectors, even a fast scanning. But if you bite down hard on it, the cover crushes. Then, when you expel your breath sharply, you fill the air around you with a poison gas..."

Cool remoteness spread upward from Leto's jaw, across his cheeks. The shadowy, hall narrowed to a pinpoint with Yueh's purple lips centered in it.

"Remember the tooth!" Yueh hissed. "The tooth!"

From Dune, by Frank Herbert.
Published by Putnam in 1965
Additional resources -

This seems like an old idea to me; does anyone know an earlier reference to this idea?

Thanks to Zac Hunter for reminding me of this one.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Dune
  More Ideas and Technology by Frank Herbert
  Tech news articles related to Dune
  Tech news articles related to works by Frank Herbert

Dispensing Tooth-related news articles:
  - Intellidrug Medication Dispensing Tooth
  - DEXI Scanner Looks Inside Air Travelers

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