Page 211 - My FlipBook

From Infancy to old Age. 191
apparently so well constructed organs, will, in its commence-
ment, be slight and scarcely persceptible ; yet will neverthe-
less, be destructive in its tendency. This change will often
be a slightly brownish appearance on the front of the incisor
teeth, near the gum, most frequently in the upper jaw, which
gradually becomes more and more brown, until it may, in
common language be denominated a brown scurf, hard to be
removed. On examining such teeth minutely, this appear-
ance will be found not confined to the surface ; for the enamel
will be rough, and could it be examined with a microscope
would be found full of thousands of little ragged cavities or
depressions, which evidently have been occasioned by the
disorganizing action of external agents, and these cells or cavi-
ties are filled with foreign substances, which being long retain-
ed, acquire acrimonious properties, and here the disease ia
perpetuated, and made to progress, until each cell enlarging,
the whole surface and thickness of the enamel is destroyed,
and the bony portion of the teeth being thus exposed, presents
but little resistance, and in its turn is soon, very soon, wasted
by the disease, until at length, the teeth having become frail,
are by some slight shock broken off, and we see the child
going about, making his expressions in lisping accents, which
to the experienced ear at once betrays his loss.
That this disease is the effect of chemical action, is evident
from the fact, that it commences externally in the enamel,
which is eroded : also, that in applying scaling instruments
for its removal, we cut it off, and as we repeat stroke after
stroke with the instrument, we observe that the main parts
are removed, and that the cavities diminish in the size of their
diameters and in their numbers, as we progress, until at
length, we entirely obliterate them, unless the disease has
penetrated the enamel.
Where this disease occurs, the saliva will generally be found
viscid or ropy, abundant and unhealthy ; hence it is obvious,
that the corrosive action is occasioned by the state of the saliva,