Page 38 - My FlipBook

84 INTRODUCTION.

because of the affection; and teeth perfectly healthy
in other respects may be thus affected.
Its Effects.—It always increases the difficulty of
removing the tooth, either by enlargement of the point
of the fang, or by deposit upon one side of it, causing

it to curve; in which latter case the difficulty is all
the greater, from the impossibility of determining the
direction of the curve. It sometimes produces a
diseased condition of the surrounding parts—in some
instances chronic inflammation—that may continue as
long as the tooth remains. Nervous affections often
result from exostosis, either through irritation caused
by pressure on the nerve, or through the diseased
condition of the surrounding parts. The floor of the
antrum is sometimes absorbed away, in consequence
of the enlargement of the point of the fang; and then
disease of the lining membrane of that cavity may

occur.
The Cause.—The cause of this affection is not well
understood. Though much light has been thrown
upon it by the researches upon the reproduction of
bone, and especially so far as the function of the
periosteum is concerned. It is most probably deposited
by the periosteum when this is in an abnormal condition;
but what peculiar condition, it is not clearly ascer-
tained, though some have supposed it to be inflamma-
tion. It is patent, however, that something more than