Page 359 - My FlipBook
P. 359
;
355
ets, is much greater than when they are allowed to remain
until they have become spontaneously loose, or until the
new teeth begin to appear, and the violence done to the
surrounding parts is quadrupled. Nature by a beautiful pro-
cess, in almost every instance, loosens the deciduous teeth,
and seems to provide with great care for their removal, so
as not to produce any injury to the surrounding parts. We
generally find, when left to nature, and probably always,
when a new tooth is coming in place of the deciduous one,
that the fangs of the latter are taken away by a process of
absorption, and the gum, which embraced the neck of the
tooth, is also absorbed away, so that the tooth drops out ; and
often, from the absorption of the fangs, the dentist, upon
extracting the tooth, thinks he has broken it ; and it is only
when they have become somewhat loose, or when this pro-
cess is so tardy as not to allow the regular descent or ascent
of the permanent teeth, and the other exceptions I have be-
fore mentioned, that we are to extract the deciduous teeth.
In some cases, some of the permanent teeth are not formed
and in these cases, the deciduous teeth, which otherwise
would have become loose, remain firm, and are of use to the
individual for many years. It is but a few days since a lady,
aged about twenty-eight, called on me to have some opera-
tions performed upon her teeth, and I found that she had
never shed her deciduous molar teeth, nor had any of the
bicuspids, which usually supply the place of the former, ap-
peared. I but lately saw another case, when the individual,
a gentleman, aged about twenty-one years, had had the in-
fant molar teeth of the lower jaw extracted, but which had
never been succeeded by any bicuspid teeth. In these cases
we can see how peculiarly correct and proper it is for us to
adopt a general rule not to extract these, unless they are dis-
eased, or seem to divert the course, or impede the progress
355
ets, is much greater than when they are allowed to remain
until they have become spontaneously loose, or until the
new teeth begin to appear, and the violence done to the
surrounding parts is quadrupled. Nature by a beautiful pro-
cess, in almost every instance, loosens the deciduous teeth,
and seems to provide with great care for their removal, so
as not to produce any injury to the surrounding parts. We
generally find, when left to nature, and probably always,
when a new tooth is coming in place of the deciduous one,
that the fangs of the latter are taken away by a process of
absorption, and the gum, which embraced the neck of the
tooth, is also absorbed away, so that the tooth drops out ; and
often, from the absorption of the fangs, the dentist, upon
extracting the tooth, thinks he has broken it ; and it is only
when they have become somewhat loose, or when this pro-
cess is so tardy as not to allow the regular descent or ascent
of the permanent teeth, and the other exceptions I have be-
fore mentioned, that we are to extract the deciduous teeth.
In some cases, some of the permanent teeth are not formed
and in these cases, the deciduous teeth, which otherwise
would have become loose, remain firm, and are of use to the
individual for many years. It is but a few days since a lady,
aged about twenty-eight, called on me to have some opera-
tions performed upon her teeth, and I found that she had
never shed her deciduous molar teeth, nor had any of the
bicuspids, which usually supply the place of the former, ap-
peared. I but lately saw another case, when the individual,
a gentleman, aged about twenty-one years, had had the in-
fant molar teeth of the lower jaw extracted, but which had
never been succeeded by any bicuspid teeth. In these cases
we can see how peculiarly correct and proper it is for us to
adopt a general rule not to extract these, unless they are dis-
eased, or seem to divert the course, or impede the progress
