Page 190 - My FlipBook

1SS

SECTION 111.

OP NECROSIS AFFECTING THE TEETH.*

When a bone, or part of a bone, has completely lost its
living principle, it is precisely in the same state as soft
parts when affected by gangrene ; no restoration of the part
can be effected ; the surrounding parts become inflamed,
and an action takes place which has for its object the sepa-
ration of the dead from the living part. When the fang of
a tooth has lost its life, the whole of the tooth becomes, in
consequence, an extraneous body ; and, as in bones, the cure
of necrosis depends upon the exfoliation of the dead piece,
so in the case of the tooth, the cure can alone be effected by
its entire removal.
This disease usually affects teeth which are perfectly free
from caries ; and.it is more particularly confined to the front
teeth, the others being rarely affected in this way. When
the fang of a tooth has lost its living principle, the socket
becomes inflamed, the gum appears of a darkish red colour,
loose in its texture, and matter begins to be discharged. In
some, the discharge is from two or three orifices through the
gums, opposite to the extremity, or the middle of the fang of
the tooth ; in other cases, the matter passes out at the neck
of the tooth. In all there is an uneasy pain, and the discharge
of the matter is very disagreeable.
During the progress of this disease, the alveolar processes
are absorbed, and the teeth are loosened, from which great
inconvenience arises.

* Natural History and Diseases of the Human Teeth, by J. Fox, pages
50to52,London, 1814.