Page 110 - My FlipBook

48 PATHOLOGY OF THE HARD TISSUES OF THE TEETH.
as most cases of erosion; they were more like the one last
described. In this case I advised that porcelain crowns be placed
on the teeth after devitalization.
Ireegtjlab aeeas. In Figure 56 is presented another class
of case entirely, which will be described under the head of irreg-
ular areas. In this case there are grooves passing across the
teeth from mesial to distal, not always at the same angle nor of
the same depth, some appearing upon the mesial most, and
others appearing upon the distal most, and so on. Occasionally
I see this with the groove reaching not more than half across
the labial surface of the tooth, but cutting very deeply ; in fact,
they may present almost any form, but generally in grooves from
mesial to distal.
In one case that came under my observation a single groove
was cut across the teeth at about the middle of the length of the
crown, less than two millimeters wide, and cut squarely in, fully
one-half through the tooth, affecting the two centrals and one
lateral. This case occurred in my own practice a number of
years ago when I was trying to prevent the spreading of erosion
by filling, and in this case it was cut so squarely that I filled with
gold the cavities formed in the centrals without any excavation
whatever. I had the satisfaction of seeing these fillings remain
perfect until the time of the gentleman's death, some ten years
later. No renewal whatever of the erosion occurred. In a large
collection of casts, a good many of these irregular cuts may be
found.
Figueed areas. In Figure 57 is presented an illustration of
what may be designated as figure cutting in erosion, that is,
cases in which the erosion takes a form of some particular com-
plex type. In this, the central incisor on the left of the figure,
a rounded groove is cut across the labial face of the tooth near
the junction of the middle and gingival thirds. From that a
groove is cut along the mesial border straight to the incisal edge,
and then the incisal edge is squarely grooved across the labial
portion of its edge. The cutting upon the fellow central incisor
has started in the same way and will follow the same course. A
case seen a number of years ago with Dr. Gushing was almost
precisely the same as this in figure, except that the groove reach-
ing the incisal surface, grooved the incisal surface and then
extended to the lingual along the mesial margin of the lingual
surface. The teeth were long cusp teeth. They were practically
unworn and there was no reason whatever to attribute the groov-
ing on the lingual surface to abrasion.
Figures 58, 59 and 60 illustrate another case of figure cut-