A system of dental surgery / by Sir John Tomes.

  • John Tomes
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A system of dental surgery / by Sir John Tomes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    reduced, :ind even tlie interior liecoincs more pnrous than during tlie period when the teeth were present. The si)in;e nientales, liowever, retain nearly their full size, although the angle of the jaw about which the niasseter muscle is inserted, sutfers considerable L.iss—not however until that nuiscle is tlirowu partly out (if use l)y the loss nf the teeth, and consequently of the capability of mastication. If two jaws be taken, the one full of teeth, the other from an old edentulous siibject, and in each the dental canal be exposed throughout its length, we may then, liy the use of a tile, taking the canal as our guide in removing the bone, reduce the younger to tlie forni of the older jaw, showing that absorption ahme is competent to effect the whole change. In the one case we have a jaw for the implantation of teeth, and f(n- the insertion of powerful muscles for bi-inging the teeth into effective use, in addition to affording attachment for muscles ctiunected with the organs of speech and deglu- tition ; and in the othei', the jaw is sid)servient imly to the latter purposes. We have hithertn s]Miken of the lower jaw, which, from its slight connection with the other bones of the face, can l)e studied in its progressive changes of form and size more readily than the superior maxilla. But if crania of various ages, extending from seven to twenty-one yeais, be carefully examined, the difference jiresented by tlie ujiper jaw at the several periods, and the manner in which these differences have been ])roduccd, may be recognised. ^Ir. Hilton, in his moniigraph (in the develoinnent of certain |»orti(jns (if the ci'auium, makes the following statement: 'J'he sphenoid bone forms the centre amuud which all the other bones, l)oth of the cranium and f ice, are developed. It is truly and literally indeed a wedge, as its name im])lies ; and thus im]iacted or wedged in anidUgst all the other ci'anial and facial bones, its progressive develdjiment spread- ing its diti'erent processes out in all di)'ections, plays a most iuiportaiit part ; not imly in determining tlie adult configu- ration of the skull, but in addjiting the final cimfoi-mation
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