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310 THIRD PERIOD—MODERN TIMES

Sometimes, when the permanent canine comes forth, it has not room
enough, and therefore grows outward. In this case Bourdet extracts
the first premolar; the canine then advances gradually of itself toward
the space left by the extracted tooth, until it occupies its place exactly.
He also counsels the extraction of the first premolar on the opposite side
of the jaw, in order to preserve the perfect symmetry of the dental arch on
both sides. When the arch formed by the jaws is too large and of an ugly
appearance, Bourdet advises extracting the first upper and lower premolars,
so that the maxillary arches may acquire a more regular form. In cases
in which the defect of form exists only in the lower jaw, that is, in children
who have protruding chins, Bourdet corrects this deformity by extracting
the first lower molars shortly after their eruption, that is, toward seven
years of age. In this manner, says the author, the lower jaw grows smaller
and the deformity disappears. The inventor of this method, as Bourdet
himself tells us, was the dentist Capuron.
Bourdet made prosthetic pieces, whose base, representing the gums and
the alveoli, was made entirely of gold and covered over with flesh-colored
enamel on the outside, so as to simulate the natural appearance of the
gums; the teeth were adjusted into the artificial alveoli and fixed with
small pins. At other times he made use of a single piece of hippopotamus
tusk, in which he carved not only the base, but also the three back teeth
on each side, whilst the ten front teeth were human teeth fixed to the base
with rivets.
One of Bourdet's principal merits is that of having brought artificial
plates to perfection by fixing them not, as heretofore, to the opening of the
palate or inside the nose, but by means of lateral clasps fitted to the teeth.
In a special pamphlet, published in 1764,' Bourdet treats of the diseases
of Highmore's antrum. To facilitate the exit of pathological humors
from the sinus, after the Cowper operation, he introduced a small cannula,
forked at one end, into the antrum and fixed the two branches of the fork
to the neighboring teeth by tying.
In some diseases of the maxillary sinus (polypus, sarcoma, etc.) Bourdet
recommends cauterizing.
Besides his principal work, the pamphlet on the diseases of Highmore's
antrum, and some others of less importance, Bourdet wrote an excellent
book on dental hygiene,^ which had the honor of two translations, one
<;^
German, tlrelSther Italian; the latter published in Venice in 1773.
This celebrated author inveighs bitterly against charlatans and quack
dentists, and throws light on all their impostures. It appears, however,
that in the midst of this despicable class, so justly condemned by him,

' Sur les depots du sinus maxillairc.
'"'
Soins faciles pour la propricte dc la bouche ct pour la conservation des dents, Paris, 1759.