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POINTS OF ATTACK IN SOFT TISSUES OF THE MOUTH. 319

6. POINTS OF ATTACK FURNISHED BY A LACK OF RESIST-
ANCE IN THE SOFT TISSUES OF THE MOUTH.

It is well known that tlie mucous membrane of the mouth,
under certain conditions, loses its normal resistance to para-
sitical influences.
As a rule, only weakly children are afflicted with thrush ; in
adults the thrush-fungus appears only after debilitating diseases.
Other parasitical diseases of the oral and pharyngeal ca\aties, as,
for example, stomatomycosis sarcinica (page 334), mycosis tonsil-
laris, etc., either accompany marantic processes, or are developed
in the course of local inflammations, but are seldom if ever ob-
served when the mucous membrane is intact. The s:ums are also
predisposed to infectious processes by local mechanical irrita-
tions.
In short, wherever, by any possible cause, mechanical, chemi-
cal, or thermal, local or general, external or internal, the nature
of the tissue is so changed as to furnish a suitable culture-me-
dium for certain microbes, a colonization of one or more of the
various species in the mouth will take place. The diseases
induced in this manner are :
a. Limited suppurative processes at the margin of the gums.
b. Formation of abscesses in consequence of impeded eruption
of wisdom-teeth.
c. The afl:ection termed pyorrhoea alveolaris.
d. Stomatomycosis sarcinica.
e. Mycosis (pharyngomycosis) tonsillaris benigna.
/. Stomacace.
ij. All inflammations of the gums accompanied by suppura-
tions and abscess-formations.
h. Thrush, occasioned by the yeast-fungus, Saccharomyces
albicans, (This disease will be mentioned in the chaj)ter on
yeast-fungi.)

a. Limited Suppurative Processes at the Margin of the Gums.
The dentist daily meets wdth cases of the infections mentioned
under a. Accumulations of tartar, sharp edges of decayed or
filled teeth, pledgets of cotton, protruding fillings, etc., irritate