38 ON DENTAL EXOSTOSIS. 



socket, to avert the evil consequence of concussion 

 during mastication, should become the seat of dis- 

 ease. In Mr. Tomes's work an admirable illustra- 

 tion of this condition of things accompanies his 

 remarks upon the subject of my paper. But in 

 other cases, where the body of the tooth is sound, 

 we cannot even cite this as a cause for the en- 

 largement, and its origin remains veiled in mysrh 

 tery. It has been therefore referred to " con- 

 stitutional tendency," the meaning of which being 

 obscure and mysterious, well accords with the cause 

 of the disease, but explains nothing. These cases 

 are rare ; but in individuals in which they occur, 

 several teeth are affected with the disease, as in the 

 case quoted by Mr. Fox. 



The cause, I say, has been correctly referred to 

 irritation of the dental periosteum ; but it is manifest 

 that this irritation runs on to inflammation of the 

 chronic kind, and that to this is to be referred the 

 pain so frequently present in this affection. This 

 opinion will, I hope, be borne out by a careful inves- 

 tigation of its progress. In teeth that appear other- 

 wise sound, or slightly affected with caries, it appears 

 to commence around the dental foramen, and gra- 

 dually to spread and increase over the apex of the 

 fang. Upon making a section of such teeth, the de- 

 posit will usually be found to be thicker just over the 

 apex, and gradually diminish down the sides of the 

 fang. The thickness which the additional deposit 

 attains is, in specimens which are frequently to be 



