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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    have indubitably been able to ascertain that the white or opaque stria3 are the seat of the most acute sensation.* The presence of this areolar condition of the dentine appears to exist in an inverse ratio with the perfection of the enamel, and so closely connected is it with the history of caries that I am inclined to believe that it is uni- versally present in teeth that rapidly decay. 34. Secondary Dentine.—It appears to me that the study of secondary dentine may throw some light upon the history of the development of this nodulated structure, and consequently upon the pathology of dental caries. My drawing (Plate 9, Fig. 16) is the section of a tooth that was consider- ably decayed before it was filled with cadmium: after a period the stopping gave way, the tooth pained, and was extracted. Upon splitting the tooth the healthy dentine was found to be deeply stained pink, from the infiltrating into the structure of the decomposed particles of the red corpuscles of blood. The dentine that was within the limits of the disease was not discoloured from this cause, but at one point, a broad line of yellow, the result * I arrived at this conclusion through the following observation:— Having to plug a cavity in a tooth, I was able to succeed in cutting out all the caries, and leave the dentine bare, with tolerable ease, one point alone being sensitive. Upon wiping out the cavity, I could, by the aid of a pocket lens, distinctly see the opaque white strise, indicating the presence of the areolar structure. I carefully ascertained, with the point of a firm instrument, that to touch this striae was to give a distinct sensation of pain, whereas all round was not conscious of any feeling.