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158 Gum-Biles.
and deposition of bony matter at the bottom of them, which
gradually protrudes the cause of irritation. During this effort,
there is always a chronic inflammation in the parts, which, by-
cold and other causes, often becomes lighted up into active
inflammation, which terminates in suppuration, and gum-bilea
are the consequence.
Inflammation never attacks the socket of a healthy fang, so
as to produce gum-biles, unless caused by some mechanical
violence. The irritation of the file, in preparing stumps for
the substitution of artificial teeth, sometimes occasion gum-
biles, especially if the stumps are bad, or the patient careless,
and expose himself to cold and wet. We have occasionally
seen them result from the irritation of a plug upon the naked
nerve of a tooth, causing inflammation, which, if the plug
be not removed, extends to the socket.
Gum-biles are of frequent occurrence, and when neglected,
often very serious in their consequences, either bursting exter-
nally, so as to produce an ugly ulcer, which, in healing,
leaves an unseemly cicatrix behind, that disfigures the indi-
vidual for life, or, causing the death of a greater or less por-
tion of the jaw-bone, which exfoliates and produces much mis-
chief.
Gum-biles generally burst in the gum, nearly opposite to
the point where the dead fang is situated, which has caused
the malady, and sometimes after the matter has been evacuat-
ed, the opening contracts, but it is seldom that the gum-bile
disappears, and a small fistulous opening remains, at which
matter continues to be discharged ; every time the individual
takes cold, a recurrence of the inflammation, and a re-accu-
mulation of matter are sure to follow: hence, the only effectu-
al cure of them, is the removal of the cause, or the extraction
of the dead teeth or fangs, as soon as the inflammation shall
subside, so as to render the operation advisable: often, when
the dead teeth are loose, it is better to remove them at once ; at
all events, as soon as the soft feeling of the swollen parts, and
the sensation of throbbing pain indicate the formation of mat-