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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    seldom in a jiosition to declare them absent, although they may not have appeared above the surface of tlie gums. But if the third molars are less frequently absent than the lateral incisors they stand next in tlie order of absentees. The second bicus])id is sometimes absent, and its place supplied, as in tlic ])receding illustration, by the second temporary molar. From a strictly practical point of view, these cases of deficiency in the number of the second set of teeth have but little interest. J\v those, however, who pursue dental surgery as a lilieral profession, they will not be ])asscd over with indifterence, although our present knowledge of the suhject will not enal)le us to recognise the cause which has ]iroduced tlie defect. It is, however, of great ])ractical importance that wo sh(nild l)e fully aware that A'ature scuuetimes fails to produce tliose ])ermancnt teeth which are preceded by temporary teeth, and that in such cases the latter will, if allowed to remain, serve t!ie pur|)oses of mastication and articulation u]) to tlie middle jteriod of life, and in some instances even later. Jm'cpilavliii ill t/ir fi»-)iix of (Iw jiennanent teeth.—It is not proposed at this place to enter into a minute descrip- tion of tiiose sliglit deviations from what may be regarded as the ty]iieal form of any member of the dental series, liut the allotted s](ace will be occu])ied in considering the more strongl}- marked cases of departure from the usual cii;u'acters. Teetli, tiiough iiidividiiid!\- well shaped, may be so much above or below the ordinary size that they become disfiguring to the ])ossessor. Tlie two accompanying illustrations (Figs. 58 and 59) are taken life-size from two sets of teeth, composed of teeth of extreme dimeu- si(_)us. In these exam])les, the ])ecnliarity has been common to all the members of the resiiective sets of teeth ; but we shall sometimes find in the same mouth teeth excessively large
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