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736 DENTAL CARIES. : :

decomposing in the mouth. Then, if by a badly-arranged economy the
.
persons who wore them still preserved them when they were in a state of
decomposition, they decayed the neighboring teeth which are in immediate
contact Avith them."
Regnard further enforces his doctrine by the following considerations
" If, now, I devote my attention to the different parts of the teeth in
which decay commences, I see that they are precisely those Avhere the ali-
ments and tiuids of the mouth stop and remain snfficiently long to decom-
pose themselves. It is in the necks of the teeth, in the interstices of these
organs, in the anfractuosities of the large molars, in these pointed holes
that we observe sometimes upon the external face of the first and second
large inferior molars or upon atrophied teeth. If we reflect precisely upon
the mode of action of caries, we see that they act in the same manner as an
acid, that they deprive the tooth of its phosphate of lime, and upon the
point where it exerts itself reduces it to a cartilaginous substance. Let
us see if we can find in the decomposition of the alimentary particles or
buccal humors an explanation of these phenomena. Now, chemistry teaches
us that all vegetable or animal substances in a state of decomposition give
birth to aeidiferous products, to nitric acid, sulphuric acid, etc.—all acids
which produce the same effect on the teeth,"
Regnard advanced arguments that were, in eifect, identical with those
of Robertson. These views were immediately antagonized in France by
M. Desirabode. While this author did not deny that the teeth might
be injured by acids, he says : " To take the action of acids upon the
teeth as the cause of decay in as absolute a sense as Regnard, is, accord-
ing to our opinion, an error—a great error."
In opposition to the theory advanced by Regnard, M. Desirabode
formulates the following propositions : ^

" 1st. A great number of caries commence in the ivory, which is often
deeply affected, whilst the enamel is entire
" 2d. Many teeth, principally the last large molars, come from their
alveoli deeply decayed, without, consequently, having been submitted to the
action of any kind of an acid.
" 3d. If it was always and solely an acid which affects the teeth, this
action would be general ; it would have hut one point of decay ; the ivhole
of the dental system would certainly be decayed.
"^
* * * * * *
" oth. Finally, the saliva and buccal humors are not as frequently acid
as Regnard thought ; we have often found alkalies among persons who had
their teeth badly decayed. Our researches in this respect accord perfectly
with the opinion of Dr. Donni,who expresses himself thus:
" * The alkalinity of the saliva has been avowed long since, but it has
been proven only—in these latter years particularly—by the experiments
"
of Tiedman and Gmelin.'
In regard to the first of these propositions he says
" Caries, according to our knowledge, as we have already said, proceeds
frequently from the interior to the exterior. Smote in its vitality either
by an act of nature which cannot be explained, and to which the pulp is
' Complete Ftemems of the Science and Art nj Dentistry, by j\[. Desirabode, Surgeon
Dentist to the King, Part 1st, p. 160.