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242 PATHOLOGY OF THE HAED TISSUES OF THE TEETH.
present. In case of alveolar abscess, the bone about the end of
the root will be absorbed, leaving an opening in which there is
only soft tissue. The crown of the permanent tooth conies down,
moving forward and downward, and strikes the lingual side of
the root of the temporary tooth and begins to push it away, as
shown in Figures 174, 175, 176. A pathological condition here
prevents the absorption of the root; pus is lying around it
instead of normal tissue. The result is that the apical end of
the root of the deciduous tooth is gradually pushed over to the
labial, and the permanent tooth following up, the end of the
root of the deciduous tooth is fiually tipped out through the gums,
under the lip, as illustrated in Figure 175, and, occasionally, cuts
into the lip, as shown in Figure 176. "Whenever the examination
of a child near the age at which the deciduous incisors are shed,
reveals a sore point under the lip and some bony substance
appearing in the tissues, it should at once be supposed to be the
apex of the root of the deciduous incisor, and, placing an instru-
ment upon that and a finger upon the stump of the incisor, and
moving it a little, it will be found that they move together, which
will confirm the diagnosis. Then, of course, the remedy is to
extract the root. It will generally be found that the permanent
tooth is pushing the root out of its way. This will be met in
practice quite often if one has many children to deal with. In
the author's practice some years ago, a slight little girl was pre-
sented in whom a sore under the lip from this cause had been
neglected until the lip had been cut through and the apex of the
root was found in the "running sore" on the skin under the nos-
tril. At the time, the little girl was very thin in flesh, anemic,
and had a temperature of 101 degrees. Yet, the sore seemed in a
chronic condition without any extended inflammation or swelling.
It was reported to me that a physician had been looking after
the case for some weeks, evidently without discovering the cause
of the difficulty with the lip.
In the absorption of the roots of the deciduous molars, a
difficulty is found that is somewhat different. Often the crown
of the bicuspid will come between these wide-spreading roots,
the roots will be absorbed only near their junction with the
crown, and the ends of the roots will be left unabsorbed. These
will be found sticking in the alveolar process or gums after the
bicuspid has taken its place; sometimes abscesses occur in con-
sequence of this, or occasionally considerable soreness without
abscess. Occasionally the unabsorbed portion of the root will
remain between the bicuspid and the proximating tooth, expand-