Page 69 - An essay on the diseasesof the jaws, and their treatment

DISEASES OF THE JAWS. 47 from the appearance of the remaining parts, which, even in the morbid and dead state, evinced the most striking evidence of their former perfection. All the teeth, although entirely free from caries, or any disease of their bony structure, were now perfectly dead, and only me- chanically held in their sockets. The periosteum was also totally destroyed, either by absorption or corrosion. The alveoli were not only dead, but in a state of putrefaction, their upper edges all around the semi-circle of the mouth beinsr from an eisrhth to a quarter of an inch exposed, and exhibiting, from their cadaverous appearance, a very frightful aspect. The gums were partially destroyed, and the remaining portion of them either gangrenous and sloughing, or in a state of inflammation and suppuration. The disease had abeady extended to the maxillary bones, and their osseous structure, as well as the periosteum of their cavities, was more or less under the influence of inflammation, suppura- tion, and mortification; but more especially the left side of the upper jaw, which was already much increased in size, accom- panied with a correspondent swelHng of the cheeks. The face was flushed, and the skin had a bloated erysipelatous appearance, and the patient sufiered excessive pain of the whole mouth, the jaw-bones and other parts of the head, as well as of other more re- mote parts of the system. There was a constant flow of viscid ropy discharge from the mouth, like that of great salivation, mixed with greenish matter, and accompanied by a foetid cadaverous odour, emanating from this fluid and the dead and morbid parts, and so exceedingly ofiensive as to be almost insupportable to the bystander. The malady was also particularly complicated, as well as highly aggravated by a great many adhesions of the muscles of the jaws, which had taken place during the excessive salivation previously mentioned, in consequence of which, the unliappy patient had lost almost all power of moving the under jaw. From these causes, the teeth were mechanically pressed into their dead sockets, and by this unnatural and permanent pressure, the absorption and exfoliation of the sockets were greatly retarded, and the immense irritation already produced by the dead teeth and sockets upon the gums and other soft parts highly augmented.