ANIMAL DENTISTRY. 209 



by its lighter color and by not adhering firmiy to the crown. 

 Treatment — Tartar is removed with a curette or file. It 

 produces slight irritation of the gums. 



FRACTURE OF THE TEETH. 



Fracture of the teeth occurs to the incisors from falling 

 or stumbling on hard pavements, blows or kicks from other 

 animals. The molars seldom sustain such injuries. Frac- 

 ture of incisors is usually complicated with considerable con- 

 tusion and laceration of the lip. The fractured loose sections 

 must be removed and the lip treated according to the char- 

 acter of the injury. 



SPLITTING OF THE MOLARS. 



Synonym — Fissuring of the molars. 



Definition — A condition peculiar to the molars of her- 

 bivorous animals consisting of a division of a decayed molar 

 into two or three plate-like segments. 



Etiology — Splitting of the teeth is an incident of the ad- 

 vanced stage of decay. It is not a separate entity nor an 

 accident. Pulpitis, alveolar periostitis and the subsequent 

 necrosis following these inflammatory conditions, deprive 

 the tooth of its nutrition and moisture, and the resulting 

 desiccation, predisposed by the "layer arrangement" of the 

 tooth, favors splitting and fissuring as a termination of the 

 disease process. In the long process of decay which the 

 molar teeth undergo, splitting is the incident preceding the 

 final ejection of the tooth from its cavity — self-extraction. 



Fissuring limited to the buccal or lingual surface of the 

 crown in the absence of any gross lesion is also of common 

 occurrence to the back molars of both arcades. This condi- 

 tion is evidently due to an inadequate union between the 

 external enamel and dentine of the crown, and greatlv re- 



