PARROT .MOUTH 



seen and felt from the outside, and in the case of upper molars a discharge 

 of a fetid nature sometimes takes place through the nostrils. The fourth 

 molar is said to suffer more frequently from caries than any other. 



If disease begins at the fang, the life of the tooth is generally short, 

 as nutrition is entirely cut off after a little while. Such a tooth has a 

 dead look, is not quite so high as its fellows, and may be found to be 

 loose. With diseased fangs abscesses are to be feared, and their presence 

 is frequently the first intimation of anything wrong with the teeth. 

 Unless suitable treatment is adopted, disease and disorganization may 

 result and prove very intractable. 



But little horse - dentistry has been practised beyond rasping and 

 extraction, and there is little doubt 

 that a good deal of discomfort might 

 be saved, and operations avoided, by 

 suitable stoppings being employed. 

 Decay occurs rarely on the grinding 

 surface, but at the sides; and the 

 few experiments made have been so 

 successful as to warrant us in clearing 

 out a cavity and filling it up with a 

 hard amalgam. This serves to keep 

 out particles of food and prevent 

 fetor of the breath; and provided the 

 cavity is made dry at the time the 

 stopping is introduced, further decay 

 may be for a long time arrested. 

 Gutta percha is a cheap and con- 

 venient stopping, and is worth a trial 

 in mouths where the interdental spaces 



between the teeth are large and allow food to accumulate and prove a 

 chronic source of trouble. It may also be used to fill a gap left where a 

 tooth has been extracted. 



PARROT MOUTH 



In this deformity the teeth of the upper jaw project beyond those of 

 the lower one, and are consequently not subjected to any attrition or 

 wear (figs. 127 and 128). Where the malformation is extreme, horses are 

 incapable of gathering their food when turned to grass, or accomplish it 

 with some difficulty. They are apt, in consequence, to fall away in flesh, 

 and should always be provided with dry food to make up the deficiency. 



