288 INFLAMMATION IN THE TISSUES OF 



is in consequence very slight. No treatment that 

 I am familiar mtli will cause the alveolar process 

 to be reproduced ; and therefore, as the teeth, 

 from their slight attachment, are annoyingly loose, 

 hey had much better be extracted at once. But 

 in all cases, even where the periosteum has become 

 greatly thickened, if the alveolar process is intact, 

 I think it desirable to try the treatment I have 

 spoken of, if the patient will consent. If the 

 result of the treatment is favourable, the products 

 of inflammation will be absorbed, and the tooth 

 will become firm and useful. We have all, I 

 suppose at times, patients who will submit to any 

 treatment rather than endure the pain of extrac- 

 tion. In such cases I have often been glad to be 

 able to have recourse to a plan of treatment, of 

 the favourable result of which I could express a 

 good hope. 



Before quitting this subject I must give the 

 pathological condition of the membrane a mo- 

 ment's consideration. 



If a tooth is extracted in the earlier stage 

 of periostitis, the peridental membrane is found 

 to have undergone a change ; the capillary 

 vessels, w^hich ramify over its entire surface be- 

 come irregularly dilated, so that red globules 

 travel through them; and when the dilatation 

 is at its greatest, they congregate, giving a 

 patchy redness to the membrane, which in a 

 normal condition has few vessels of a diameter 



