Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Principles and practice of filling teeth. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.
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![The color of serumal calculus is usually darker than that of salivary calculus, and quite commonly has a greenish tinge run- ning through it. It is also dense in structure, and is probably formed more slowly than salivary calculus. It may be found in some instances deposited in a thin scale along the side of the root where the peridental membrane has been lost, or it may occur as small nodules, particularly at the apex of a root, as the result of chronic alveolar abscess. In other cases, where the attachment of the ]3eridental membrane to the root seems perfect from the apex to near the alveolar border, but where the free margin of the gum is congested and puffed, a narrow band of calculus may be found encircling the neck of the tooth in its entire circumference just under the gum. This is sometimes so near the margin of the gum that it may readily be seen by forcing the gum back with a pledget of cotton. In any pocket formed between the gum and the root as the result of the loss of that portion of the peridental membrane, we may ordinarily expect to find more or less of a deposit of serumal calculus, and we need not hope to see the gum-tissue over- lying this become healthy so long as the deposit is allowed to remain. Stains on the Teeth. These may present themselves in varying degrees of extent and intensity, and in varying shades of color. The one claiming most attention from the profession in the past is green stain, which seems to occur with the greatest frequency on upper incisors in young patients. It may also be found in certain instances coating the entire buccal and labial surfaces of all of the teeth in adults, though this is comparatively rare. It would appear strange that so much prominence had been given green stain to the almost com- plete ignoring of the other varieties. In point of frequency the brownish stains are more prevalent, and they are found occurring at all ages and upon any of the surfaces of the teeth not subjected to considerable friction. All of the stains seem to form witli tlie greatest intensity near tlie gum-margin, and gradually shade away toward the occlusal surface, though in some instances tlicy constitute a more or less](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21217270_0021.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
