Page 947 - My FlipBook

CALCIC INFLAMMATION OF MEMBRANE AND GUMS. 957

There is often some eversion of the gnni, and the pockets thus formed
are filled with the peculiar mucus-corpuscles, pus-corpuscles, and the
usual micro-organisms of the mouth. This inflammation seems not to
assume a destructive character. There is little or no separation of the
tissues from the necks of the teeth, and the difficulty is usually tran-
sient, lasting but a few weeks. In those cases, however, where there is
a disposition to accumulations of calculus or other irritating substances,
it may serve as the starting-point of a more permanent local irritation
;
it therefore rerjuires the attention of the dentist. It will always be
favorably modified by habits of cleanliness, and will soon pass away
without other treatment ; therefore the removal of the accumulations is
usually all that is indicated. Of course the patient should be instructed
in regard to tlie matter of keeping the parts well cared for. Some cases
will be met with in which a brisk saline cathartic as an eliminant will
be advisable, and this may be followed by the vegetable acids with
advantage. For this purpose I have found nothing better than oranges
or lemons ; indeed, in all of this group of diseases these fruits seem to
exert a very salutary effect.
There is but little doubt that simple gingivitis is often the starting-
point of the more grave diseases of the peridental membranes pres-
ently to be described. The inflamed and swollen state of the gingiviB
favors tlie lodgment of calculus by interfering with the natural tendency
to cleanliness which results from the unrestrained use of the teeth in
the mastication of food. This tendency is readily seen in most mouths
when from any cause one portion of the mouth is not freely used, as in
the case of a sensitive carious tooth. In such cases the effect of disuse is
generally quickly seen in accumulations of debris, if not actual deposits
of calculus, about the necks of the teeth in tlie region disused, with the
consequent tendency to calcic inflammation. Now, in case of simple
gingivitis, continuing for some weeks, the patient will become cautious
about the use of the teeth and will avoid those things that hurt the
gums, and therefore will not make that free use of the teeth best calcu-
lated to keep them freed from such accumulations in the natural way.
In this manner Nature's plan for cleanliness is thwarted, and the condi-
tion is prone to pass into one of calcic inflammation.
Calcic^ Inflammation of the Peridental 3Iemhrane and Gums,—I use
the term calcic inflammation of the peridental membrane and gums to
express that condition in which inflammation of these parts is caused
and perpetuated by deposits of calculus on the necks of the teeth. As
deposits on the teeth will be the subject of a special paper, I will not
enter into a discussion of the causes that lead to them, further than these
may depend on the local conditions. I recognize that a tendency to
calcific deposits may be a constitutional vice Avhich is probably hered-
itary in many cases, but may be acquired. This constitutional vice may
be favored by conditions of the teeth themselves, by their form, by
irregularities in their arrangement, by the condition of the gums, as in
the swollen state found in simple gingivitis, by vicious personal habits,
^ In the use of the term "calcic" denoting; the cause of inflammation I follow an
esta'ilislied usage, as seen in the terms traumatic inflammation, traumatic fever, septic
fevei', etc., all of which denote the cause, not tlie result, of the conditions named.