126 EARLY DESTRUCTION OF THE TEETH. 



ture ; but I cannot see that any practical benefit is 

 likely to result from tbis mode of investigation; 

 nay, I rather fear that the efforts that are being 

 made by means of the microscope to trace the 

 origin of decay to the bone of the tooth, may have 

 a tendency to lead the public into a wrong direc- 

 tion, by encouraging the old and dangerous theory, 

 that inflammation of the bone of the tooth is the 

 exciting cause of caries — a dangerous theory, I call 

 it, because it is calculated to uphold the mistaken 

 notion, that it is time enough to apply to the 

 dentist for relief when pain has been experienced. 

 One of the earliest of our English writers upon the 

 diseases of the teeth, made a most unfortunate mis- 

 take when he compared the teeth with other bones, 

 and came to the conclusion that a similarity of 

 structure and organization existed in both. This 

 erroneous impression has no doubt had its influence 

 upon the minds of some of our subsequent writers, 

 if we may judge from the theories they have 

 advanced; but the sooner we can get rid of the 

 notion of the bone of the tooth being liable to 

 inflammatory action the better. 



There is not the slightest reason to suppose that 

 the bone of the tooth is liable to inflammatory 

 action. Its mode of formation, its structure, and 

 its constitution, are altogether different from that 

 of other bones. There is no analogy between them, 

 nor ought we to expect to find any ; if it were 

 otherwise, it would be a departure from the laws of 



