84 DISEASES OF THE MOUTH 



rough manipulations during dental operations, licked-off 

 body hairs, etc.). (b) Chemical irritants (plants: aconite, 

 hellebore, euphorbium, tobacco, digitalis; minerals: chloral 

 hydrate, bichloride of mercury, chloride of, zinc, various 

 blistering agents licked off the skin), (c) Thermic causes 

 (hot drenches, frozen food), (d) Fungi (moulds, rusts, 

 smuts and yeasts), (e) Insects (caterpillars on leaves in fall, 

 leaf-lice). (/) Bacteria. 



Secondary Form. — (a) Symptomatic of diseased teeth 

 (alveolar periostitis, dental caries and many surgical 

 conditions of the teeth), (b) Shedding of decidious teeth 

 (causing gingivitis or "lampas"). (c) Some of the infectious 

 diseases (foot-and-mouth disease, Rinderpest, contagious 

 pustulous stomatitis, etc.). (d) Spread of pharyngitis to 

 mouth cavity, (e) Most of the diseases of the stomach and 

 bowels. (/) Constitutional diseases seriously affecting 

 nutrition and resistence (anemia, rachitis). 



Symptoms. — In acute cases the patients resist attempts to 

 examine the mouth ("mouth shy"), will eat slowly, especi- 

 ally roughage, show frequent thirst and salivation. In the 

 early stage (congestion) the mucous membrane of the lips, 

 cheeks and tongue is red, dry and swollen. Later the tongue 

 is coated with a sticky, grayish (greenish in grass-fed horses) 

 often foamy exudate. The hard palate is swollen ("lampas") 

 and sometimes the tongue. There is salivation ("slobber- 

 ing") a viscid, ropy saliva drooling from the commissures 

 of the lips, especially marked when the mouth is opened. 

 Sometimes the saliva is foamy. It may be retained in the 

 mouth to be ejected at intervals. The saliva has a peculiar 

 sweetish odor due to its retention and decomposition. 



Usually there are no marked, lesions present. Occasion- 

 ally, however, small, gray papules appear on the teeth 

 surfaces of the lips and under the tongue from which later 

 shallow, quick-healing ulcers develop. Constitutional dis- 

 turbance is rarely noted. 



Course. — In primary stomatitis the course is benign, ending 

 in recovery in fourteen days. The course in the secondary 

 form varies with the primary disease with which it is 

 associated. 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



