ADVENTITIOUS TEETH. 
27 
they come in contact with and wound soft tissues. Boll and Dieckerhoff 
have seen cases where a tooth in the lower jaw has become so long as 
finally to penetrate the opposite bone. The nasal cavity may even be 
pierced, and a suspicious discharge produced. Moller records two such 
cases. Supernumerary molars, when on the inside of the row, are apt 
to wound the tongue, and, when on the outside, the cheek. Walther 
speaks of two accessory molars in the horse which appeared, one on the 
inner side of each of the third upper molars. The horse had difficulty 
in chewing. Moller saw two cases where a supernumerary tooth was 
present on the inner side of the fourth upper molar. (Fig. 5.) Both 
teeth suffered from alveolar periostitis, penetrated the maxillary sinus, 
and produced chronic nasal discharge. In another case the extra 
tooth was on the inside of the third pre¬ 
molar, and interfered with eating. 
Treatment consists in shortening or removing 
the offending molar. Extraction is difficult 
where the tooth stands close to another, and 
therefore cannot be grasped. In these cases 
it may either be shortened or punched out. 
Such teeth may be removed by using forceps 
with sufficiently thin jaws to pass between the 
diseased tooth and its neighbour. In the front 
of the mouth the two teeth may sometimes 
be thrust asunder with a strong chisel. 
(b) irregularities in replacement of 
THE TEETH. 
Occasionally the milk teeth remain fixed in 
Fig. 5.—Supernumerary tooth 
(horse). 
position, and cause the permanent teeth to grow 
irregularly. Such milk teeth may be removed with ordinary forceps, 
though Gunther’s are preferable. (Fig. BO.) It should be noted that 
the milk tooth is always in front, the permanent behind. In extracting 
the first tooth, the projection in front of the jaws of the foiceps 
should lie on the permanent tooth. The incisor teeth are some¬ 
times absent in dogs, especially in such as have suffered from severe 
attacks of some infectious disease during very early life. It seems 
possible that under such circumstances the germ of the permanent 
teeth may have undergone' atrophy. The eruption of the molars 
seldom gives rise to trouble, though at times severe pain accompanies 
the process, and soft food may be required. Occasionally, however, the 
animal loses condition to such a degree as to necessitate operative inter¬ 
ference. Frick removed six temporary molars from a foal’s mouth ; 
they had remained fixed on the erupting teeth like caps, and during 
