Page 80 - An essay on the diseasesof the jaws, and their treatment

58 AN ESSAY ON THE of Mr. Lawrence. On an examination of the case, tkis gentle- man instantly detected the actual disease, as well as the particular exciting cause. Viewing it as a case of osteo-sarcoma of the nose, and suspecting the state of the teeth to be the cause of the disease, he directed the patient to take my opinion with respect to the condition of his mouth. By a careful inspection, I found the whole of the gums and sockets, more or less, suffering from that disease, of which I have more particularly treated in the second part of my " Dental Sur- gery," chap, iii., p. 270, under the title " Of the Devastation or Absorption of the Gums and Sockets of the Teeth." These parts were in a state of inflammation and suppuration, his teeth were much encrusted with green tartar, and many of them so far deprived of their gums and sockets, as to have become very loose, and their preservation was not only impossible, but their retention appeared to be a powerful exciting cause of the diseases of the mouth, notwithstanding they were entirely free from caries. The upper and under cuspid teeth were much out of their natural line, and from the permanent irregular action of one jaw upon the other, the lateral incisor, cuspidatus, and first bicuspis of the left side of the upper jaw had been deprived of their vitality, the fangs of which, by their irritation, had produced the disease. The tumour adhered to the mucous membrane of the left nostril, and was about two-thirds of an inch in length, and a quarter of an inch in diameter; and I gave it as my opinion, that a permanent removal of the exostosis, and a complete cure of the disease could not be obtained without the extraction of every tooth, which, from the loss of its vitality, or deprivation of a con- siderable part of its sockets, and irregularity of its situation, acted as a permanent exciting cause of the disease ; and the truth of this assertion will be particularly proved by the sequel of the case. TREATMENT. It was in the beginning of March, 1827, when the excrescence was removed by Mr. Lawrence, and soon after the operation, the