Page 72 - My FlipBook

72 FIRST PERIOD—ANTIQUITT

may never have had this tooth; or, more probably still, some length of
time may have elapsed between the loss of one of the three and the other
two, so that when he made up his mind to have recourse to a prosthetic
appliance, the space normally occupied by the three incisors was already
notably diminished, and the void could therefore be filled by an ox tooth
so adjusted as to represent only two teeth.
When I was intrusted with the reproduction of all the ancient pros-
thetic pieces existing in the Italian museums, I met with special difficulty
in the reproduction of the above-mentioned piece; and this because I

Fig. i6

Etruscan appliance for supporting three artificial teeth, two of which were made
of one ox tooth. (Civic Museum of Corneto).
%
Fig. 17

The same appliance reversed.

could not succeed in procuring an ox tooth that was not worn away by
the effects of mastication. The idea then occurred to me of sectioning
the upper jaw of a calf at about the age of the second dentition, and
taking out the teeth, which were already strong and well formed, but not
yet deteriorated by mastication. I fancy my Etruscan colleague must
have done the same three thousand years ago, when he carried out the
prosthesis in question, for the large tooth employed by him does not
show any signs of being worn by mastication.
This large tooth is solidly fixed by means of two pivots to the gold band