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28 PATHOLOGY OF THE HARD TISSUES OF THE TEETH.

definite whorls are at the dento-enamel junction, or actually
partly within the dentin. But many pits are formed within the
usual thickness of the enamel without disturbance of the line
of the dento-enamel junction, as shown in Figure 31. In most
of these cases there is much disturbance of the direction of the
enamel rods in the immediate neighborhood as the rule. In some
there seems to be a failure of the enamel organ to perform its
function of rod formation at the particular spot. In and about
many of these pits there is deep discoloration. Many times the
dark color is confined to the pit itself, which is partially filled
with a substance strongly resembling the chittinous covering of
insects in appearance and in which no enamel rods can be made
out. In other cases the dark color extends broadly in, or among,
the enamel rods about the pit.
In these pits the disturbance follows the general direction
of the enamel rods in the locality. This is as true of the pits
that accompany the accretional deformity as those that occur as
isolated defects. In this the pit is distinctly different from the
other injuries to the enamel in the accretional deformity, for
these as uniformly follow the lines of Eetzius.
I have been unable to form any idea of the pathology con-
cerned in the formation of these pits. Their prevalence in cases
of accretional deformity indicates that they are due to disturb-
ances of nutrition. They consist essentially in a failure in the
formation of enamel rods. But such remarkable disturbances
as those shown in Dr. Callow's case indicate that there may
be some other pathological element not yet understood. His-
tologically, they seem to be a very distinct form of dystrophy.
The rule is that these pits need no treatment. They rarely decay,
but as there is a slight opening and the tissue is often black
or dark colored for a little bit around it, dentists frequently
cut them out and make fillings. There is no reason for doing
this unless softening has occurred, or in other words, unless
decay has actually begun. Of course in that case the filling
is the proper procedure, but not otherwise.

Wrinkled or Corel gated Teeth.
t
Teeth presenting an unusual dystrophy, to which I have
applied the term wrinkled teeth, are characterized by an irregu-
larity in the surface of the enamel, and of the line of the dento-
enamel junction. The most typical form is shown in Figure 32,
in which all of the teeth of the denture presented an enamel
surface of alternate ridges and furrows. This is a photograph
of a skull found in the anatomical laboratory of the Dental