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280 THIRD PERIOD—MODERN TIMES
reaching as far as the cheek bone or the eye, necrotic destruction of the
maxillary bones, etc.
The first volume of Fauchard's work finishes with a collection of most
interesting cases, which may be read even at the present day with pleasure,
and from which one may derive some useful information. These cases
are about eighty in number, spread over fifteen chapters, according to
the various nature of the cases themselves. This valuable collection
gives clear evidence of Fauchard's eminence both as operator and observer,
and affords at the same time an idea of the extent of his practice which
enabled him to collect so considerable a number of cases of more than
common interest.
Chapter XXV contains some observations on '''well-authenticated cases"
of regeneration of permanent teeth in individuals of ages varying from
fifteen to seventy-five years. We will here give two of them by way of
curiosities:
"In the year 1708 Mademoiselle Deshayes, now the wife of M. de Seve,
residing at Paris in rue de Baune, and who was then fourteen years of
age, had the first large molar on the right side of the inferior jaw extracted
bv me, because decayed and causing pain. The following \'ear she re-
turned to have her teeth cleaned by me, and whilst doing this I observed
that the tooth extracted had been wholly regenerated."^
"In the year 1720 the eldest son of M. Duchemin, player in ordinary to
the King, who was then sixteen years old, came to me to have the second
large molar on the left side of the lower jaw extracted. It was very
much decayed. I drew it, and a year and a half after the tooth was
completely regenerated.""
In Chapter XXVIII the author relates twelve cases of dental irregular-
ities corrected by him with satisfactory and at times even surprising
results. We here refer, in Fauchard's own words, to the last two of these
cases, not because of their being the most important, but because
from them it is evident that Fauchard was not the only dentist who
undertook such corrections, although he was perhaps the only one who,
in certain cases, carried them out with a rapid method.
"In the year 1719 M. I'abbe Morin, about twenty-two years of age,
whose countenance was greatly deformed from the bad arrangement of
the incisors and canines, consulted various colleagues of mine as to the
possibility of correcting the irregularity of his teeth. Some found the
thing so difficult that they advised him to do nothing at all, that is, not to
risk any attempt. He came to me by chance one day whilst another dentist
was with me. We both examined his mouth with much attention.
Now, as this dentist was my elder, and I believed him to have more experi-
' I'age 330. ^ Page 331.