Page 262 - My FlipBook

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CHAPTER V.

DISEASES OF THE MAXILLA.

It is not my intention to discuss this subject at much length,
but as the surgeon-dentist often witnesses them, and as they
may have a connexion with diseased teeth, or the irritation of
dead ones, I presume to say something upon it, and intro-
duce a few cases which conclusively have, in some instances,
their connexion with diseased teeth, &c.
The maxillary bones are subject to inflammation, mortifi-
cation, and likewise to bony growths or deposits around
them, of which I shall hardly take a cursory notice.
In the upper jaw the antrum maxillare is occasionally sub-
ject to inflammation, formation of pus, mortification, to can-
cerous growths, and in some cases, accumulation of mucus.
I subjoin a history of these affections from the pen of Messrs.
Fox, Koecker, &c. referring the reader to a case which
came under my own observation, and described in the sec-
tion upon Phthisis, as caused by bad teeth, &c. I will com-
mence with diseases of the antrum.
* Inflammation in the antrum is often occasioned by dis-
eases of the teeth, but it also occurs when the teeth are quite
sound. Sometimes in examining the prepared bones of the
head, one or more fangs of the large molares may be found
passing into the cavity. In such a case, inflammation, exci-
ted by a diseased tooth, would speedily communicate to the
membrane lining the cavity and cause suppuration.
I think mischief usually follows the neglect of an abscess
of the antrum. The natural opening from the cavity is usu-

* Fox, Part II, pages 125 to 131.