110 
PATHOLOGY. 
removal of the remote caufe is of courfe the only plan of 
treatment. Warm liquors, and the chewing of almonds, 
have however been recommended. 
4. Odontia deformis, deformity of theteeth, from 
error, ftiape, pofition, or number. The teeth fometimes 
grow in a very irregular manner; as from the palate, 
underneath the tongue, or not upright in the gums. 
The latter circumftance is a very general confequence of 
neglecting to draw the firft teeth of children on the ap¬ 
pearance of the fecond. It may be remedied, when in a 
trifling degree, by pulhing the tooth from time to time 
towards its proper fltuation ; or, more permanently, by 
means of fome mechanical contrivance, as lilk thread or 
Bruner’s machine. A metallic plate anfwers the purpofe 
very well ; its width fliould be lefs than the height of 
the teeth ; its breadth equal'to three teeth; it is to be 
applied to the infide of fuch teeth as incline inwards, and 
to the outfldes of thofe which incline outwards; at the 
ends of the plate are two holes, through which the filk- 
tbreads, fmeared with wax, are to be palled, and, after 
eroding each other, are to be tied over the oblique tooth. 
^hen the teeth are fo far removed from the gums as 
to render thefe methods ineffectual, extraction is of courfe 
the only refource. Albinusrecords.au example,in which 
a tooth grew out of the maxillary procefs below the orbit. 
It was concealed until it made its way out in this extraor¬ 
dinary fltuation. Annot. Acad. t. i. p. 54. 
The teeth have fometimes been oblerved inverted, their 
bodies being fltuated towards the jaw. Pollich, Increm. 
Gjjium, p. 25. Albin. c. 9. PaIJin, c. 9. 
Sometimes the teeth are placed too diftant apart, fo 
that between their crowns large interfpaces are left. 
Thus, in children three years of age, the crowns of the 
milk-teeth are fo clofe to each other, that they are late¬ 
rally as it were in contact; but, in children feven years 
old, there are wide interfpaces between them. The reafon 
of this is owing to the jaw increafing in fize, while the 
dimeniions of the teeth undergo no alteration. The fe¬ 
cond or permanent teeth, on the other hand, (at lead the 
firft twenty of them,) have larger bodies than the milk-fet. 
Frequently the tartar infinuates itfelf between the 
crowns of the teeth, and occafions a confiderable repara¬ 
tion of them. We need l'carcely obferve, that the cure 
requires that the tartar fliould be taken off, and the teeth 
reduced into their natural pofition. 
The deformity of which we are now treating, is occa- 
lionally afcribable in adult fubjefts to the preternatural 
breadth of the jaw, in which circumftance it is abfolutely 
incurable. 
Theteeth may be too crowded together, fo that their 
crowns are laterally in contaCf. This defeCt may extend 
to fome or all the teeth. The frequent confequence is, 
that the lateral margins of thefe parts become carious. 
This deformity arifes from the great width of the crowns 
of the teeth, and it may be afeertained by ocular examina¬ 
tion. In fome inftances, all the bodies of the teeth are 
preternaturally wide, in others only a certain number of 
them. It is caufed likewife by the uncommon fhortnefs 
of the jaw. It may be known by obferving that the 
crow ns of the teeth are not too large, and that the alveo- 
lary arches are ftrikingly diminutive. The mode of cure 
confifts in filing off a little of the lateral edges of the teeth 
affedled. 
Sometimes the number of the teeth exceeds what is the 
ufual fliare of the human fpecies in general; and this 
particularly occurs whenever the number amounts to 
more than thirty-two. Columbus has feen thirty-three; 
Fauchart, thirty-three and thirty-four; Bourdet, thir¬ 
ty-fix; and Ingraflias thirty-fix, including twenty-four 
grinders. 
In fome inftances, the exeeflive number is ow'ing to 
there being a double row of teeth. This malformation 
may happen to both jaws, or be confined to one. It has 
been noticed in both jaws by Munick, p. 144. Plinius, 
c. xi. p. 623. C. Bartholinus, p. 464, See. Arnold met 
with a boy, fourteen years old, who had all together fe- 
venty-two teeth in his mouth. There was a double fet 
of the incifores, canine teeth, and three pofterior grind¬ 
ers ; but the anterior grinders were triple : confequently 
there were counted in each jaw eight incifores, two ca¬ 
nine on each fide, and twelve molares. The incifores 
were not arranged in an even double row' ; but each row 
feemed irregular, and its order as it were promifeuous. 
The arrangement of the canine and grinding teeth was 
more regular. None of thefe teeth were affefted with 
caries. (Jbf. Phyf. Med. p. 69. See alfo Hunter, p. 115, 
199, for examples of a double row of teeth. Bloch, 
Medicinifche Bemurkungen, p. 19. Triple row, Nean- 
der, Phyfic, Part II. Numerous and confufed rows, 
Eph. Nat. Cur. ann. iii. vii. viii. 
5. Odontia edentula, or toothleflnefs. This fpecias 
confifts of four varieties, ct, Peculiaris; from conftitu- 
tional defedt. S, A vi extrinfeca; from external vio¬ 
lence. y, A carie ; from decay. Senilium, from old 
age. In all thefe varieties, the affection feldom extends 
to the whole teeth, except in the cafe of old age. In 
the firft, or that from conftitutional defeft, a few only in 
one or both jaws, are left unprovided for; while fome¬ 
times an effort to this purpofe is commenced, but not 
carried to perfeiflion. “ In the head of a young fubjeft 
which I examined,” fays Mr. J. Hunter, “ I found that 
the two firft incifor teeth in the upper jaw had not cut 
the gum; nor had they any root or fang, excepting fo 
much as was neceflary to fallen them to the gum on their 
upper furface ; and, on examining the jaw, I found there 
was no alveolar procefs nor fockets in that part.” Nat. 
Hift. of the Human Teeth, p. 8. It is obvious that the 
only method of remedying this defeft is by inferting 
fupplemental teeth ; as to which fee the article Surgery. 
6. -Odontia incruftans, tartar of the teeth. Tartar 
is an earthy cruft, which adheres to the teeth. As it 
fills up the interfpaces of feveral of the teeth, and occu¬ 
pies their external furfaces, it is feldom obferved upon 
their infides. By the Greeks it was called odontolithos, 
from o^oi-s, a tooth, and Aiflo;, a ftone. By others it has 
been termed tophus ve 1 calculus dentium. 
With regard to the eftefts of the tartar, it difplaces 
the teeth, and renders them loofe and painful ; it alfo 
feparates the gums from the fangs, producing caries in 
the latter, and a bad fmell in the breath. In refpeft to 
colour, the tartar of the teeth is of three kinds, namely, 
dark-brown, yellow, and black. 
Since many perfons who never clean their teeth at all 
are not disfigured with thefe depofitions of tartar, it ap¬ 
pears that a peculiar difpofing caufe is neceflary for the 
occurrence of the complaint. It is moft likely that 
morbid ftates of the faliva are the moft frequent; for 
there are certain perfons, whofe teeth are conftantly in- 
crufted with tartar, notwithftanding they are in the con¬ 
tinual habit of waffling their teeth and mouths. Berd- 
more relates a furpriling example of this fort. A man, 
thirty-two years of age, had the teeth of each jaw coated 
with folid tartar, half an inch in thicknefs, both on the 
outfide and infide of the teeth, and on the furface of the 
gums, fo that the interllices of the teeth were altogether 
invifible. The gums were every-where pufhed off the 
teeth, and painful. The incruftations upon the incifor 
teeth were fo thick, that the lower lip was rendered more 
prominent. During a fortnight, Berdmore removed 
every day fome of the tartar from the teeth with an in- 
ftrument, and at length employed a dentifrice and brufh. 
The retraced gums were fcarified, and thus made to ad¬ 
here to the necks of the teeth. The patient was obliged 
to bruftt his gums and teeth three times a-day, partly 
with a view of preventing the new formation of tartar, 
and partly in order that the regeneration of the gums 
might be ftill more promoted. But, although the patient 
ftri&ly followed this plan, his teeth and gums, in the 
courfe of half a year, became again covered with an ex- 
tremely-thick coat of tartar. Berdmore was therefore 
under 
