Page 38 - My FlipBook

2 2 THE TREATMENT OF TEETH
proved by leaving a hard gold filling too high on an
occlusal surface. It is well known what a state the
mouth and gums are in during a severe illness, and
as the gums and the peridental membrane are inti-
mately connected, it becomes merely a question of
the spreading of the local inflammation—or un-
healthiness—to the peridental membrane for it in
its turn to be affected. It is no uncommon thing
for a patient's gums to be red and puffy and bleed
easily for some considerable time after recovery
from an illness ; and there is every probability, in
the event of the generally inflamed condition of the
mouth spreading to the peridental membrane, that
pyorrhoea will be established, unless the vitality of
these tissues is sufficient to enable them readily to
resume their normal state with the general improve-
ment of the patient's health. Deposits of crystals of
uric acid on the apices of roots have been put down
as the sole cause of the disease. That deposits of
some kind do take place at the apices of roots
in some cases is certain. That absorption and
roughening of the apices of roots also sometimes
takes place is true. But that the disease depends on
the peridental membrane being attacked in a certain
way (not necessarily always the same way), and on
the kind of resistance (or the want of it) that nature
puts forth (or is able to put forth) in any particular