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.

    136/808 page 120
    gum ; this, with the unsightly character of the tooth itself, led to its being extracted. The teeth adjoining the vacated space Avere, by means of ligatm'es, gradually brought towards each other, and eventually so far reduced the interval, that the absence of the faulty central was not missed. The irregularity as regards size will sometimes be limited to the root of a tooth. In the example from which the preceding illustration was taken, the crown has attained the usual size; the enamel, however, exhibits indications of defective organisation, and the root is most imperfectly developed. The tooth was i-emoved withija two years of its appearance, in consequence of the irritation it excited in the surrounding gum (Fig. 62). It can scarcely be supposed that any constitutional condition would cause the produc- tion of one defective tooth, and leave iminfluenced other teeth developing at the same time. A strictly local cause may be looked for with much greater chance of success. The prolonged existence of gum-boil in connection with a temporary tooth may produce the result, or the encroach- ment of a neighboiu'ing tooth upon the formative pulp may lead to the formation of a dwarfed and misshapen tooth (Fig. 26). Slight deviations from the usual foi-ms of the ci'owns of the permanent teeth need not be described, but it is necessary that attention should be drawn to the fact that siqyplemental cusps are sometimes found arising from the necks of teeth, and presenting all the appearances of distinct supernumerary teeth. A jiractitioner has been known to seize upon such a cusp, believing it, I presiune, to be a supernumerary tooth, and drag out, not only the cusp, but the incisor from which it arose. The case from which the following illustration (Fig. 63) is taken occurred in my own practice. A large nodule or cusp projected from the neck of the tooth. It was ])crfcctly covered by the gum, so that its presence could not be suspected, until, in passing the forceps up
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