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PYORRHCEA ALVEOLARIS 23

case, may be accepted as a common-sense view in
the present state of our knowledge in regard to this
disease in particular and predisposition in general.
If the value of the natural teeth were bettor
understood and appreciated, and if the almost hope-
lessness of satisfactorily treating this disease in an
advanced condition were realised, it Avould be cus-
tomary for medical men to send their patients to a
dentist as soon as they had recovered sufficiently
from an illness to be amenable to dental treatment.
By this means many cases of pyorrhoea would be
either prevented or rapidly checked.
The treatment consists in removing all sources
of mechanical irritation by first of all removing the
tartar from the roots. This is imperative, as unless
it is completely removed success cannot be ex-
pected. Elongated teeth must be shortened in
order if possible to free them from the bite, and
teeth that are very loose must be firmly held in
position by ligating them to firm teeth with soft
platinum wire or by means of some firmly fixed
mechanical appliance. Nature is thus given a
chance to repair lost tissue, and when this is effected
the ligature or appliance should be removed. The
removal of tartar from the roots is difficult to
accomplish. It must be done almost entirely by the
sense of touch, and the scales are often so firmly