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NODULAR DENTINE. 911
Nodular Dentine.
Under this name are classified the secondary deposits found in pulps.
They may be purely physiological in character, and are not necessarily
pathological. Indeed, it is difficult to draw the dividing-line between
these two conditions, for the one may run into the other through the
ordinary processes of development.
The formation of secondary tissue is dependent on so many and such
diverse conditions that it is impossible to class it as belonging to any
particular period or state. It may be found at all ages, in all teeth,
and it has been observed even in deciduous teeth. There is one law,
however, that seems universal in its application, and that is that the
structure must average a superior grade. In other words, teeth of
strong, dense character, yellowish color, are peculiarly liable not only
to new formations, but to have this extra development assume the nod-
ular or granulated form.
The relations sustained by the pulp to dentine and the part the
former takes in the development of the latter are better understood
to-day than at any former period, but no satisfactory explanation has been
attempted throwing light on the peculiar form dentine assumes or show-
ing why at a certain period in development it changes its character. It
is, however, well known that the new ibrmation differs from the normal,
or regular dentine, in the irregularity of the tubuli, there being a dis-
tinctive line of demarcation between the new and the old. All that is
really understood in regard to it is that up to an uncertain period nor-
mal tissue is developed, and after that the formation assumes the cha-
racter of secondary, or osteo, dentine.
Before considering the character of these formations it may be well to
examine into the probable causes that lead to their origin. They may
be classified under two heads
1st. Increase of density.
2d. Irritation.
The increase of density may occur at any age, and the familiar exam-
ple of senile dentine, with its superabundance of secondary tissue, is a
common presentation. Between these two extremes may be found all
degrees of formation, ending frequently in loss of the teeth, they being
thrown out as foreign bodies. Increase of density necessarily means an
increased deposition of the inorganic material in the organized body.
If it be accepted that the pulp is capable of forming dentine, either nor-
mal or abnormal in character, at all periods—and this is not disj)uted
it follows as a natural sequence that the cellular formative elements
must possess unlimited power of development which is not confined to
the peripheral cell-layer, but is equally distributed throughout the pulp
that every portion must be so endowed and be equally amenable to the
universal law of formation. Secondary dentine is, therefore, not con-
fined to the pulp proper in the form of minute grains or larger nodular
calcifications, but is manifested in the translucent dentine of Tomes,
M'hich is but another state of the same development. Wedl does not
regard this as proved, as by the use of " heated dilute hydrochloric
acid " he was able to demonstrate that the " processes of the dentinal
—:
NODULAR DENTINE. 911
Nodular Dentine.
Under this name are classified the secondary deposits found in pulps.
They may be purely physiological in character, and are not necessarily
pathological. Indeed, it is difficult to draw the dividing-line between
these two conditions, for the one may run into the other through the
ordinary processes of development.
The formation of secondary tissue is dependent on so many and such
diverse conditions that it is impossible to class it as belonging to any
particular period or state. It may be found at all ages, in all teeth,
and it has been observed even in deciduous teeth. There is one law,
however, that seems universal in its application, and that is that the
structure must average a superior grade. In other words, teeth of
strong, dense character, yellowish color, are peculiarly liable not only
to new formations, but to have this extra development assume the nod-
ular or granulated form.
The relations sustained by the pulp to dentine and the part the
former takes in the development of the latter are better understood
to-day than at any former period, but no satisfactory explanation has been
attempted throwing light on the peculiar form dentine assumes or show-
ing why at a certain period in development it changes its character. It
is, however, well known that the new ibrmation differs from the normal,
or regular dentine, in the irregularity of the tubuli, there being a dis-
tinctive line of demarcation between the new and the old. All that is
really understood in regard to it is that up to an uncertain period nor-
mal tissue is developed, and after that the formation assumes the cha-
racter of secondary, or osteo, dentine.
Before considering the character of these formations it may be well to
examine into the probable causes that lead to their origin. They may
be classified under two heads
1st. Increase of density.
2d. Irritation.
The increase of density may occur at any age, and the familiar exam-
ple of senile dentine, with its superabundance of secondary tissue, is a
common presentation. Between these two extremes may be found all
degrees of formation, ending frequently in loss of the teeth, they being
thrown out as foreign bodies. Increase of density necessarily means an
increased deposition of the inorganic material in the organized body.
If it be accepted that the pulp is capable of forming dentine, either nor-
mal or abnormal in character, at all periods—and this is not disj)uted
it follows as a natural sequence that the cellular formative elements
must possess unlimited power of development which is not confined to
the peripheral cell-layer, but is equally distributed throughout the pulp
that every portion must be so endowed and be equally amenable to the
universal law of formation. Secondary dentine is, therefore, not con-
fined to the pulp proper in the form of minute grains or larger nodular
calcifications, but is manifested in the translucent dentine of Tomes,
M'hich is but another state of the same development. Wedl does not
regard this as proved, as by the use of " heated dilute hydrochloric
acid " he was able to demonstrate that the " processes of the dentinal
