DECAYED AND TARTARED TEETH. 181 



the same nature, and probably originates in the same causes, with 

 rachitis ; and if our instances were sufficiently multiplied, we should 

 find this proved by fact. — For the treatment, see Fractures and 

 Dislocations, 



DECAYED AND TARTARED TEETH. 



Sportsmen and persons living in the country, who are habi- 

 tuated only to healthy dogs, will smile at such a head line ; but were 

 they in London, or other large cities and towns, where dogs are 

 petted and immured in hot apartments night and day ; where also 

 they are gorged with the richest food, and are not exercised but 

 in a carriage ; and withal are probably descended from a long 

 lineage of parentage equally unnaturally treated, they would see 

 sufficient of these eflFects of an imperfect digestion, to make them 

 aware that this article is perfectly in place; and the remarks 

 which follow are in unison with the general intention of these 

 pages, to let nothing pass unnoticed which a long and critical 

 attention to the habits and diseases of these animals renders ne- 

 cessary to be guarded against and remedied. In the dogs I have 

 described, nothing is more common to find than carious teeth, 

 insuflFerably foetid ; others displaced, preventing mastication ; or an 

 immense accumulation of tartar which covers them, erodes the 

 gums, and makes the animal excessively offensive to all around 

 him. The veterinarian will often be called on to remedy these 

 evils : the decayed teeth he must remove, and the displaced ones 

 also ; the tartaric deposit he must likewise completely scale oflF 

 with proper dental instruments ; for the accumulation is not only 

 most unpleasant to the owners, but injurious to the dogs, by its 

 septic tendency, and its invariably ending in the destruction of the 

 teeth. The ulcerations are best removed by touching them with a 

 mixture of a proper strength, made from the solution of the chloride 

 of soda with water : by the use of this, these ulcers will quickly 

 heal ; and the continuance of it will do much to remove the re- 

 maining foetor, and stop the further deposit of tartar, particularly 



