Page 196 - My FlipBook

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The incisors of the upper jaw arc the most exposed to these
accidents. Boys, in their various amusements, occasionally
receive blows in the mouth, which not unfrequently occasion
fractures of the front teeth.
In falling upon the face, the teeth are sometimes struck
against a stone ; in throwing of stones at each other, one
may be received against the teeth ; in an incautious attempt
to catch a cricket-ball, the force of which is not sufficiently
spent, it may come with violence against the mouth: in
these, and other similar ways, persons are subject to fractures
of the teeth : also in the mastication of food, hard substances,
such as a splinter of bone, or a small stone, or a shot in
game, may unexpectedly be bitten upon, at which time the
muscles of the lower jaw, being in very strong action, ex-
ert a force sufficiently powerful to fracture a perfectly sound
tooth.
The treatment of these cases will depend much upon the
extent of the injury. If a small piece be broken off from
the point of a tooth, nothing more will be necessary than
with a fine file to make the rough edge smooth.
A tooth rarely becomes carious in consequence of an acci-
dent of this kind ; for, if there be no predisposition in a tooth
to decay, the mere removal of a small portion of it will not
cause caries.
A fracture of a tooth occasions inconvenience in propor-
tion to the injury done to the cavity of the tooth. If it
should extend nearly into the cavity, having left only a thin
piece of bone to cover it, the person will be subject, for some
time, to pain, on exposure to cold air ; this, however, is gen-
erally cured by a deposit of bone taking place within the
cavity, by which the nerve is defended, and the tooth may
remain during life without exciting further trouble.