Hand-book of dental anatomy and surgery : for the use of students and practitioners / by John Smith.

Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hand-book of dental anatomy and surgery : for the use of students and practitioners / by John Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    greater portion of the fangs. At its earliest stages this affection usually attracts little or no attention. This arises from the small amount of sensibility existing in the dentine of a pre- viously healthy tooth. Considerable morbid change may here, however, as in other tissues, take place without pain, and its occurrence thus be overlooked. Generally a slight dis- coloration exists at the site of the disease from a very early period. A dark spot or streak appears on some part of the enamel, very often at some part where it is thinnest, such as in the hollows of the crown of a molar tooth, or where the enamel becomes attenuated as it approaches the fang. Another very common site is in the incisors of the upper jaw where their lateral surfaces are in contact. At such points the flaw becomes more and more appa- rent ; the enamel assumes a friable and under- mined appearance; and at some unexpected moment, this structure gives way more or less and reveals the altered dentine below; a state of matters probably up to this time unsuspected. From tliis period the distinguishing character- istic of dental caries, in contrast with that of other osseous tissues, is manifest, namely, the