Page 467 - My FlipBook

463

of the lining membrane, leave
the stumps entirely dead.
He says, " I will suppose myself correct in the assumption,
that as in the body's circulation a great portion of the blood
is returned by the superficial
veins, so, it is just to take for
granted, that through each tubified fang of the teeth, which
the most sceptical observer, anatomist or no anatomist, may
distinctly discern, the blood is anteriorly thrown to the inte-
rior of the tooth, and there, following a due course of beau-
tifully organized circulation through the osseous
part, is (si
interim nihil interfual) quietly returned by the periosteum of
the exterior.*" This opinion of Mr. Bew, and the remarks
of Mr. Koecker, are both incorrect and contrary to facts, and
the most correct analogical observations. We find that in all
hollow bones, of which the fangs of the teeth are a good ex-
ample, that they have an external and internal periosteum,
and that the bone has an internal and external pestiors
which, in their circulation, depend mostly upon these mem-
branes : if the external dies, a part of the external bone dies,
but no farther than the circulation depended on the dead
membrane
; and, vice versa, when the internal periosteum is
diseased or loses its vitality, &c. So it is with the fanes of
the teeth, if the internal membrane dies, a part of the bone
of the fang dies, but a much greater part, attached to the
socket, and supported by the external periosteum, lives and
may retain its vitality for a great many years. It is upon
these principles that I have predicated my practice, as re-
gards the stumps of teeth. I think I have demonstrated to
every candid reader, that a stump of a tooth may possess
vitality, and the internal membrane be dead. Whenever
the external periosteum becomes inflamed so as to lose its

• See Bew on the Teeth, pages 64 and 65.