176 



ANIMAL DENTISTRY. 



offer to the adjustment of the bridle or by shaking the head 

 while driving. The condition is met by lancing the gums, 

 which is best done with the curved scissors. 



The molar teeth having temporary predecessors, the first, 

 second and third, for obscure reasons occasionally cease to 

 grow sufificiently to force out the temporary ones, and as 

 the latter are not sufficiently stable to perform the function 

 of mastication, the whole area becomes infected and the 

 result is a large tumefaction of the jaw. When the tem- 

 porary teeth are extracted the dead undeveloped permanent 



Fig. 123. 

 A Persisting Temporary Tooth Due to Faulty Eruption of Its Permanent 



Successor. 



ones are found lying loosely beneath them. This condition 

 is found chiefly on the lower jaw. The condition will always 

 respond promptly to the removal of both the temporary and 

 permanent teeth involved in the process. One, two or all 

 three teeth may be affected. 



On the superior jaw osteoma of the maxilla over the 

 third, second or first molars is often produced by backward 

 pressure of the permanent teeth when their downward 

 growth is blocked by a wedged temporary tooth. 



These conditions occur in young horses from two to five 

 years old and are often mistaken for decayed teeth or tumors 



