ALVEOLAR TERIOSTITIS IN CARN1VORA. 299 



that it had for a long time suffered from an offensive nasal discharge. An 

 examination showed that the left nostril was blocked with masses of food, 

 which had entered by an opening in the now empty alveolus. The passage 

 was large enough to admit the little finger. The upper maxillary sinus 

 proved healthy on trephining. After carefully removing every particle 

 of food from the nostril, and cutting down the overgrown first molar of 

 the lower jaw, the alveolus was thoroughly cleansed and stopped with 

 a mass of gutta-percha, softened in hot water. To give it a more secure 

 hold, a few grooves had previously been filed on the adjoining tooth. 

 The nasal discharge ceased after this operation, and several weeks later 

 the gutta-percha was found still in position, and quite fulfilling its object. 

 Mastication appeared in no way disturbed, and the horse lived for several 

 years in the same condition. Voigtlander describes a similar case, though 

 the horse had finally to be killed. Some very interesting cases of this 

 character will be found in Cadiot and Dollar's " Clinical Veterinary 

 Medicine and Surgery." 



It is seldom needful to extract incisors, though the operation is often 

 done by horse-dealers to give horses the appearance of greater age. The 

 operation is called for where milk teeth remain confined between the 

 permanent incisors, or where the premaxillary or submaxillary bone 

 is fractured and the^alveoli exposed. 



Giinther's forceps are the best (Fig. 298). The projection just in front 

 of the jaws of the instrument serves as a fulcrum, and should be rested 

 on one of the neighbouring teeth. Incisors can also be pulled with human 

 forceps made rather longer and stronger than usual (Fig. 299). The same 

 instrument serves as an exporteur. 



Alveolar Periostitis in Carnivora. Dogs, especially those kept in 

 the house, are the most frequent sufferers. Compared with alveolar 

 periostitis in herbivora, the disease in dogs differs both in its advent 

 and progress. A large number of teeth are usually attacked, some- 

 times nearly all ; both molars and incisors suffer, and old dogs may 

 be reduced to an absolutely toothless condition. 



Symptoms. The edges of the gums are swollen, more or less 

 reddened, and bleed on the least touch. At points where the tongue 

 cannot easily reach, as along the external borders, the gums are moist 

 with a grey slimy fluid of a particularly penetrating odour. The 

 crown of the tooth is partly covered with grey chalky masses of tartar, 

 which intrude under the gum in the direction of the alveolus, loosening 

 the tooth, and causing it to fall out. Where the disease is extensive, 

 the animals salivate freely, eat badly, and either avoid gnawing 

 bones, or whine occasionally during the process, whilst the mouth 

 emits a most offensive smell. Sometimes single teeth become loosened 

 and partly displaced, preventing the animal closing the mouth, and 

 giving rise to suspicion of rabies. 



The condition was formerly regarded as systemic, and received 

 such names as scurvy, mouth-rot, &c. But neither fever nor other 



