352 



PRACTICAL ANATOMY. 



A tooth is said to consist of a crown, neck, and root 

 or roots. The crown is all that portion found normally 

 above the gum ; the neck the narrow, constricted por- 

 tion between the crown and root at the edge of the gum. 

 The root is that portion imbedded in the alveolus; its 

 end is termed the apex. 



Physical Characteristics of the Teeth. In placing 

 this description before the reader, and by means of which 

 he will be enabled to distinguish any normal tooth, we 

 wish him to bear in mind that abnormally he may find 

 a variety of deviations. The second upper bicuspids 



FIG. 153. PERMANENT TEETH. 



are sometimes found with two roots ; either of the superior 

 bicuspids with three ; molars occasionally have four, 

 even five roots. The writer has in his possession a 

 second lower molar with five cusps and three roots ; one 

 with five cusps is very rarely met with. 



The crown of each tooth has five surfaces, viz., the 

 labial or buccal, that next the lip or cheeks ; the lingual, 

 next the tongue, sometimes called the palatal in the 

 upper teeth ; the two approximal surfaces, that nearest 

 the median line being called the mesial, that farthest 

 away the distal ; and the cutting edge or masticating sur- 



