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44 CARIES OF THE TEETH.

by their location or any other unfavorable circum-
stance, retain injurious agents in contact with the

tooth, are very subject to decay.
The attack and progress of caries are modified by

the constitution of the teeth. These may be defec-
tive either originally or accidentally. Original de-
fectiveness would extend to all the teeth of the same
individual, whilst accidental might exist only as to
some of the teeth in the same mouth, and these only
at particular points. Such conditions are peculiarly
favorable for the attack of caries. When the whole
crown of the tooth is imperfectly organized, the decay

will advance with uniform rapidity, till the whole is
destroyed. But when it is only portions of the tooth,
the caries, after a time, becomes retarded in its pro-
gress, and in some cases checked altogether.
Among the circumstances which modify the pro-
gress of this disease, are, a change of the condition
or character of the agencies producing it, and an
increase or a diminution of the amount of such agen-
cies. The progress of caries will also be governed
somewhat by the age of the person whose teeth it
attacks, and by the peculiar constitution of the

organs themselves ; for, in regard to constitution,
these present an almost infinite variety, the relative
proportions of their constituents being exceedingly
various, even in persons of the same age, and con-