The diseases of the human teeth : their natural history and structure : with the mode of applying artificial teeth, etc., etc. / by Joseph Fox and Chapin A. Harris ; with two hundred and fifty illustrations.
- Joseph Fox
- Date:
- 1855
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The diseases of the human teeth : their natural history and structure : with the mode of applying artificial teeth, etc., etc. / by Joseph Fox and Chapin A. Harris ; with two hundred and fifty illustrations. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![gradually becoming thinner and thinner, till at length the teeth are suffered to pass through. There is considerable variety as to the precise time when the teeth begin to make their appearance. This frequently seems to depend upon the health and vigour of the child: for sometimes the first tooth comes as early as four or five months, while on the contrary, in those of more delicate and weakly constitutions, no tooth makes its appearance until the child is ten or twelve months old; and it is not very uncommon for a child to be turned of fourteen months before any tooth appears. It may be expected that the formation of the teeth will go on more rapidly in the healthy, and proceed more slowly in the weak and delicate: Yet there are excep- tions to this, for often the teeth seem not to be influenced by any state of health. Those of a weakly child will sometimes arise in rapid succession,, while those of one more robust will often come forward but slowly. In general, children begin to have their teeth about the sixth, seventh, or eighth month after birth f those which correspond with each other generally appearing about the same time, first in the under jaw, and then in the upper. The following is the order in which the teeth of a child * Sometimes a child is born having one or two teeth ; these are generally the cen- tral incisores of the under jaw: In such cases the socket for the forming tooth has not been sufficiently deep, and therefore the tooth has passed through the gum premature- ly. These early productions are only the upper parts or crowns of teeth, no fangs having yet been formed. And as they have only a weak attachment to the gums, they soon get loose, producing a considerable inflammation in the mouth of the child, as well as occasioning inconvenience to the mother. It is therefore advisable to ex- tract them immediately, for they can never come to perfection. [If teeth, which appear through the gums at birth, had as the author asserts, always a weak attachment, and soon get loose, it would be proper to adopt the practice which he recommends. But having met with cases where they were firmly articulated, and were productive of no unpleasant effects, I cannot join with him in recommending their immediate removal; this operation should only be resorted to when they give rise to irritation of the gums.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21120559_0032.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
