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will be absorbed, leaving an opening- in which we will have
only soft tissue. The crown of the permanent tooth comes
down and strikes the lingual side of the root of the tem-
porary tooth. Now, there is a pathological condition here
that prevents the absorption of the root ; pus is lying around
it instead of normal tissue. The result is that the apical end
of the root is gradually pushed over to the labial, and the
permanent tooth following up the end of the root is finally
tipped out through the gums, under the lip, and occasionally
cuts into the lip. Now, whenever you examine a child and
find a sore point under the lip and some bony substance
appearing in the tissues, you should at once suppose that
to be the apex of the root of the incisor, and, placing an
instrument upon that and a finger upon the stump of the
incisor, and moving it a little, you will find that they move
together, which will confirm your diagnosis. Then, of course,
the remedy is to extract the root. You will generally find
that the permanent tooth is pushing the root out of its way.
You will meet this in your practice quite often if you have
many children to deal with.
In the absorption of the roots of the deciduous molars
we find a difficulty that is somewhat different. Often the
crown of the bicuspid will come between these wide-spread-
ing roots and the roots will be absorbed only near their junc-
tion with the crown, and the ends of the roots will be left,
and you will find them sticking in the alveolar process after
the bicuspid has taken its place ; sometimes abscesses occur
in consequence of this, or occasionally considerable soreness
without abscess. These are usually easily removed if the
conditions are recognized. They produce very much less
difficulty than the roots of incisors. Occasionally you will
find the root of a cuspid, a long root, being thrown out under
the lip in tlie same way a» the incisofs.
Question by student : Does an alveolar abscess at the
root of a temporary tooth interfere with the growth of the
permanent tooth?
Answer : Quite often we will have an abscess at the
root of a temporary molar before the enamel of the crown of
a bicuspid has been completed, and in that case the pus may

break into the enamel organ and destroy it, so that the
enamel of the crown of the bicuspid will never be completed.

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