Page 120 - My FlipBook

34 PATHOLOGY OF THE HARD TISSUES OF THE TEETH.
this case I could get no indication of any other abnormal con-
dition of the patient. She seems to have been otherwise a normal
and healthy girl.
Many of the teeth were badly decayed and it is represented
that all of them, whether decayed or not, were abnormally sensi-
tive to sweets, heat and cold, and to acid fruits. Also, that this
condition of sensitiveness had been persistent since the eruption
of the teeth. This sensitiveness was so continuous and severe
that it led finally to the removal of all of the teeth for relief.
In all of my observation this unique case stands alone. Consid-
ered as a whole, I have studied nothing else like it. I have, how-
ever, observed in the mouth a number of cases that may have
been of this character. The definiteness of the deformity and
the perfectness with which this definite histological character
was repeated in each tooth examined, indicates that it is a
deformity to which the teeth are liable. This is emphasized by
the frequent observation of the tendency seen along the line of
the dento-enamel junction to form scallops and whorls in teeth
otherwise normal. But I know nothing of the conditions leading
to this kind of deformity.
Dr. M. C. Smith, of Lynn, Massachusetts, presented casts
of a case at Buffalo, at the meeting of the National Dental Asso-
ciation, 1905, which seemed to me to be of the same character.
When I examined these models, no teeth had been extracted and
no opportunity presented for a histological study. Dr. Smith's
case presented the same difiBculty as to sensitiveness.
White Spots in the Enamel.

White enamel is seen in occasional white or ashy gray spots
occurring in the enamel of teeth otherwise normal in color and
form. These white spots are usually small and are covered with
the ordinary glazed surface of the enamel, so that an exploring
tine will glide over them the same as over the perfect enamel.
If, however, the spots are large, this glazed surface fails to cover
the central portion, being projected but part way from the mar-
gin toward the center. In that case, the central area is rough,
and an exploring tine enters the enamel without difficulty. Such
spots as these latter are rare. Sometimes such a spot shows
discoloration about its central portion or radiating through it
in irregular lines or blotches. The smaller white spots covered
with the glazed membrane are common in any great school clinic
where large niunbers of persons are present for dental oper-
ations