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300 ALVEOLAR ABSCESS.

immediate vicinity are very much involved. In
some cases, the sac on the point of the root is verv
large, and absorption has taken place, to accommo-
date it ; in such instances, the sac being destroyed,
the space occupied by it will be filled up with a

healthy tissue. In young persons, when an abscess is
formed on the point of a root, especially in the single-
root teeth of the superior maxilla, the discharge is
frequently through the tooth, in consequence of the
large size of the foramen at the point of the root;
and generally, in such cases, the local treatment may
be made through the canal. Sometimes the dis-
charge is between the root and the wall of the alveolus.
More often, however, especially in persons over
twenty-five years of age, the discharge is through
the alveolus and the soft parts to the surface, by the
shortest course.
When an alveolar abscess is influenced by any
constitutional derangement, general treatment must

be resorted to, such as the condition indicates. The
local treatment always demanded, is such as will
break up and destroy the secreting sac. This is
effected either by surgical or by therapeutic treatment,
and frequently in chronic cases, by both together;
but, in the great majority of acute cases, therapeutic
treatment alone will be sufficient. In order to break
up an abscess by an operation, it must be easy of