CHAPTER VII. 



CARIES OF THE TEETH. 



Forms, Causes, Symptoms, Results and Treatment. 



Caries of the teeth of the domestic animals is of 

 frequent occurrence and so rapid is its progress 

 that the whole tooth or even adjacent teeth become 

 involved before its existence is noticed. Occasional 

 cases however, produce marked symptoms at the 

 outset, even before the roughness which it produces 

 can be detected by the most delicate touch. No 

 part of the tooth is exempt from this disease. It 

 may attack the external surface of the crown, neck 

 or root, or it may begin in the center of the tooth 

 around the pulp cavity and gradually extend out- 

 ward. Yet there are places which are more liable to 

 attack than others. The depressions on the grind- 

 ing surfaces of the molars and the neck on the side 

 opposite an adjoining tooth ; the latter no doubt 

 being due to an accumulation of food between the 

 teeth. 



The molars are the teeth usually affected, the 

 incisors rarely, and the canines practically never 

 surfer from this affection. In no instance has there 

 been brought to my notice a case of carious canine 



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