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THE DECAY OF THE TEETH BY DENUDATION. LSI

must either bear, or submit to have the Tooth pulled out. If the
first be chosen, and the repeated inflammations submitted to, a
cure will be performed in time, by the stump becoming totally
dead ; but it is better to have it pulled out, and suifer once for
all. (m)
Upon pulling out these Teeth, we may in general observe a
pulpy substance at the root of the fang, so firmly adhering to
the fang, as to be pulled out with it. This is in some pretty
large, so as to have made a considerable cavity at the bottom
of the socket. This substance is the first beginning of the for-
mation of a Gum Boil, as it at times inflames and suppurates, (n)
§ 2. The Decay of the Teeth by Denudation.
There is another decay of the Teeth much less common than
that already described, which has a very singular appearance.

(m) [The filling of stumps with gold has been much advocated of late
by American dentists, and if the stump is in a healthy condition,
and there is no discharge issuing from the cavity, it is far preferable to
allowing it to remain open for the lodgment of food and the fluids of
the mouth. Much care and judgment is required in selecting these
cases when there has once been inflammation of the periosteum, it is
;
very liable to recur, and certain to do so if the tooth is stopped, when
there is a discharge coming from the interior through the canal of the
fang.
For a full account of the process of stopping teeth the reader is
referred to the various works on Dental Surgery. The volumes of the
Dental Cosmos contains many valuable contributions upon recent im-
provements in stopping.]
(11) [The substance to which Hunter refers is not always the first
beginning of a gum boil, but may be an adventitious growth consisting
of one or more of the histological elements of the periosteum. These
growths have been particularly described by M. Magitot.] (1)
(1) Memoire sur les Tremeurs de Perioste Dentaire, J. B. Bailliere et Fils,
Paris, 1860.
A translation [of this Memoir will be found in the Dental Review. Vol. 2.
1860.
See also Lectures on Diseases of the Dental Periosteum in Contributions to
Dental Pathology, by R. T. Hulmc. H. Bailliere. London, 1862.