The pathology of dental caries / by C. Spence Bate.

  • Bate, C. Spence.
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The pathology of dental caries / by C. Spence Bate. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of interference in tlie organ at the period of development, commencing first in tlie exposure of the stria3 between each layer of dentinal salts, and then in the arrangement of the earth in a more or less globular form. 21. Deterioration of tlie Structure of Enamel to- wards tlie Outer Surface.•—The enamel in its per- fected condition is the least under the influence of vital force of all the tissues that build up a tooth. The enamel organ as the tissue approaches completion gradually disappears; it must there- fore follow, as a natural sequence, that the vitality of the organ gradually decreases in a direct ratio with the growth of the enamel. It is therefore legitimate to assume that where there is any abnormal condition in the general constitution, or defective power in the organ itself, the enamel will be less perfectly formed the nearer it approaches to the surface of the tooth. This deduction receives strong corrobora- tion from examination of the enamel in the tooth of the elephant, as shown in the accompanying drawing (Plate 6, Fig. 12), where a gradual dete- rioration of the enamel is seen as it approximates the cementum, and at those places where the cementum dips the deepest, the enamel is most de- fective. I think that this fact demonstrates the close connection that exists between the cementum and the enamel, a connection which appears to me not to have been fully appreciated, but which it is