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68 CARIES OF THE TEETH.

the gums, the mucous membrane, and the salivary
glands. The teeth should be kept free from all de-
for,
posits and accumulations of whatever character ;
though some of these may not affect the teeth directly,
yet they induce disease of the surrounding parts, and
thus indirectly exert a pernicious influence upon
them.
The foregoing remarks, however, refer rather to

the prevention of decay than to its treatment after it
actually exists. Yet they are, on that account, none
the less important, since here, as elsewhere, preven-
tion is better than remedy. But they apply to such
prevention as well after decay has commenced as
before, if the ultimate object is preservation of the
teeth. After the first attack, the teeth are more
vulnerable, and less capable of resistance.
When decay has attacked a tooth, the treatment
depends upon the nature and extent of the disease.
Rapid decay requires more prompt and energetic
treatment than that of slow progress. Remedies
that would be appropriate and efficient in the one,

would be quite inapplicable to the other. The per-
sistence of caries is not always in proportion to its
rate of progress. We sometimes find teeth in which
the decay is not advancing rapidly, and thence are
led to conclude that it may be easily arrested ; the
affected part, if superficial, is removed, and the den-