38 



ON THE FORM AND SIZE 



and may become impacted in some compartment 

 of tlie sinus. As a general rule, they do not cause 

 sufficient inconvenience to warrant surgical inter- 

 ference; but should the case be otherwise, in 

 ordinary shapes of the cavity they can readily 

 be extracted by an enlargement of the opening 

 through which they have entered. 



Loose teeth have been found in solid and 

 encysted tumours (Fig. 13) ; it is a question of 



surgery whether such 

 foreign bodies should be 

 allowed to remain within 

 the sinus in persons pre- 

 disposed to malignant 

 disease. The following 

 case occurred in the 

 writer's practice. The 

 fang of a first molar 

 tooth, during an attempt 

 to extract it, passed at 

 once into the antrum ; 

 the patient being a gen- 

 tleman whose father had 

 died of secondary malignant disease of the jatv. 



A consultation was held with an eminent hos- 

 pital surgeon, and it was thought advisable, under 

 the circumstances, to trephine the antrum. Two 

 large openings were made, — one in the anterior, 

 and the other in the inferior wall. The cavity 

 was repeatedly explored and injected, but, after 



Fig. 13. 



An unique specimen of osseotts cyst con- 

 taining a loose tooth, in the possession of 

 Mr. S. Cartwright (posterior view). 



