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take into consideration how much the gums and alveoli are
apt to change, and especially the former, upon the contact of
porcelain teeth, our own reason and observation
will at
once teach us, that the latter will, before any great length
of time, from the change in the jaw and the teeth to which
they are attached, become out of
fit, or not adapted to the
shape of the jaw ; and consequently become useless, and new
ones will have to be substituted ; so that natural and ani-
mal teeth
if good, and properly inserted, and rigid cleanli-
ness is observed by the patient,, will, besides
all their other
advantages over porcelain teeth, add this, of being useful to
the patient nearly as long as the latter.
When porcelain teeth are inserted upon the stump, the
objection, as regards the retiring of the gums, is mostly ob-
viated. But another difficulty arises
: the porcelain teeth are
so brittle and ready to break, that they cannot be fastened
with that firmness which animal or natural teeth may be.
I
have now several sets of porcelain teeth, which I have taken
out, and inserted either animal or natural teeth
in their pla-
ces. I do not wish to deviate from the strictest candor in
the discussion of this matter, knowing that truth will ever
remain, whilst every deviation from it will, like the darkness
of night, be dispelled by the rise and progress of the sun of
science and observation. It is too often the case that views
of interest, will often prevent us from taking a comprehen-
sive view of any subject. This appears to me to be the case
with many of the advocates of porcelain teeth ; who in
many instances stoutly assert that they are superior to every
other substance whatever for the construction of artificial
teeth. When we consider that almost coeval with the first
dawning of Dental Surgery as a science or an art, these
teeth were known, that they have been known about one
hundred years, (for Fauchard at least hinted at them in the
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