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appeared considerably swollen and inflamed, they had in
some parts retired from the teeth, upon which there was a
considerable deposit of tartar. There was but a slight ap-
pearance of decay upon any of her teeth, which were very
regular and beautiful. In this case the disease appeared to de-
pend upon an irritable state of the gums, increased into dis-
eased action by the tartar deposited around the necks of the
teeth, and in interstices between them. The indications of
cure were, first, to allay the diseased action which had taken
place in the gums around the teeth ; and secondly, to re-
store a healthy action, and to cause the gums to heal around
the necks of the teeth, as they are wont to do in health.
This all I was enabled to accomplish in the most perfect
manner, by at once removing all the tartar that was deposi-
ted around the teeth ; which I was enabled to do at one sitting,
and after this I directed her to use the oak-bark decoction,
with a light brush for a few days, and then to use an astringent
dentifrice at least twice a day for sometime, and to increase
the hardness of her tooth-brushes, until she could without
pain use a hard one. By this treatment in the course of
three weeks, her gums were rendered perfectly healthy.
Case III.—I will mention but one more case of this affec-
tion, as I have already continued the discussion of this
subject much farther than I at first expected ; as I feel the
utmost anxiety that whoever reads this chapter, may have a
perfect and clear idea of this disease and of the causes
which produce it, and of those means which, if properly used,
will always render the cure easy and perfect.
W L , Esq., a gentleman of about forty-five

years of age, and of a remarkably good constitution, called
on me in the month of September last, and requested me to
examine his teeth and gums, which I did, and found a very
peculiar irregularity of the incisor and canine teeth of the