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302 THIRD PERIOD—MODERN TIMES
attended with great danger. He demonstrated the absurdity of the
latter idea by putting in evidence the anatomical fact that the upper
canines are innervated by the infraorbital nerve, which does not stand in
any relation whatever to the organ of sight/
Among the other remedies recommended by him against the disorders
and perils of first dentition, there is one most curious, not to say ridiculous:
he advises rubbing the nape of the neck, the shoulders, the back, and the
lov^er limbs of the child, but in doing this the friction should proceed
from above downward, in order to offer resistance to the flow of humors
toward the upper parts of the body. The utility and efficacy of this kind
ot massage in favoring the process of dentition seems, of a truth, very
open to question.
Bunon speaks at length of erosion of the teeth, and declares himself to
be the discoverer of this disease, which destroys the enamel of the teeth
already before their eruption. The first molars, the canines, and the
incisors are much more frequently damaged and affected by it than the
other teeth. According to Bunon, it is generally due to measles, smallpox,
malignant fevers, or scurvy, when children are subject to these maladies
during dentition, and more especially during the first. He is of the opinion
that erosion not only generates caries, but may be considered as being the
origin of the greater part of dental affections.
This author distinguishes three principal kinds of dental tartar, the
black, the pale yellow, and the brownish yellow; he admits, however,
two other kinds that are less frequent, that is, the red tartar and the green.
He relates having observed in the jaw of a child, who died at the age
of three years and a half, a splintering of the alveolar parietes in all
directions, and attributes this phenomena to disproportion between the
size of the teeth and the alveoli. On the basis of his anatomical observa-
tions, he says that caries only appears on teeth that have already come out
of the gums, whilst erosion is produced in teeth not yet erupted, indeed,
at times, several years previous to their eruption.
We will also mention, by way of a curiosity, Bunon's proposal to sub-
stitute the word legs for that of dental roots.
Fr. a. Gerauldy, a French dentist, wrote (1737) an excellent treatise
on dental maladies and on the mode of preserving the teeth. His book,
which was also translated into German,'' contributed to the diffusion of
knowledge relative to dental prophylaxis and therapeutics, but apart from
Some
this brought no increment to the progress of practical dentistry.
' M. Bunon, Sur un prejuge trcs-pernicieux, concernant les maux de dents qui sur-
viennent aux femmes grosses, Paris, 1741.
^ M. Bunon, I{lssai sur les maladies des dents, Paris, 1743. Experiences et demonstra-
tions pour servir de suite et de preuves a I'essai sur les maladies des dents, Paris, 1746.
* Abliandlung von Zahnkrankheiten, etc., Strassburg, 1754.
302 THIRD PERIOD—MODERN TIMES
attended with great danger. He demonstrated the absurdity of the
latter idea by putting in evidence the anatomical fact that the upper
canines are innervated by the infraorbital nerve, which does not stand in
any relation whatever to the organ of sight/
Among the other remedies recommended by him against the disorders
and perils of first dentition, there is one most curious, not to say ridiculous:
he advises rubbing the nape of the neck, the shoulders, the back, and the
lov^er limbs of the child, but in doing this the friction should proceed
from above downward, in order to offer resistance to the flow of humors
toward the upper parts of the body. The utility and efficacy of this kind
ot massage in favoring the process of dentition seems, of a truth, very
open to question.
Bunon speaks at length of erosion of the teeth, and declares himself to
be the discoverer of this disease, which destroys the enamel of the teeth
already before their eruption. The first molars, the canines, and the
incisors are much more frequently damaged and affected by it than the
other teeth. According to Bunon, it is generally due to measles, smallpox,
malignant fevers, or scurvy, when children are subject to these maladies
during dentition, and more especially during the first. He is of the opinion
that erosion not only generates caries, but may be considered as being the
origin of the greater part of dental affections.
This author distinguishes three principal kinds of dental tartar, the
black, the pale yellow, and the brownish yellow; he admits, however,
two other kinds that are less frequent, that is, the red tartar and the green.
He relates having observed in the jaw of a child, who died at the age
of three years and a half, a splintering of the alveolar parietes in all
directions, and attributes this phenomena to disproportion between the
size of the teeth and the alveoli. On the basis of his anatomical observa-
tions, he says that caries only appears on teeth that have already come out
of the gums, whilst erosion is produced in teeth not yet erupted, indeed,
at times, several years previous to their eruption.
We will also mention, by way of a curiosity, Bunon's proposal to sub-
stitute the word legs for that of dental roots.
Fr. a. Gerauldy, a French dentist, wrote (1737) an excellent treatise
on dental maladies and on the mode of preserving the teeth. His book,
which was also translated into German,'' contributed to the diffusion of
knowledge relative to dental prophylaxis and therapeutics, but apart from
Some
this brought no increment to the progress of practical dentistry.
' M. Bunon, Sur un prejuge trcs-pernicieux, concernant les maux de dents qui sur-
viennent aux femmes grosses, Paris, 1741.
^ M. Bunon, I{lssai sur les maladies des dents, Paris, 1743. Experiences et demonstra-
tions pour servir de suite et de preuves a I'essai sur les maladies des dents, Paris, 1746.
* Abliandlung von Zahnkrankheiten, etc., Strassburg, 1754.
