Mouth hygiene and mouth sepsis.

  • Marshall, John Sayre, 1846-1922.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mouth hygiene and mouth sepsis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    reached. The acid formed by the fermen- tation of the food debris acts more rapidly upon the dentine than upon the enamel, and, as the process of decalcification— removing of the lime salts—goes on, the dental tubuli are left behind as the leath- ery or cartilaginous substance, which is later gradually dissolved or liquefied by the saprophytic—putrefactive—germs and washed away. The disagreeable odor and taste from a decaying tooth are caused by the putrefaction of this cartila- ginous substance. This process of decay may become arrested through a changed environment, which constitutes immunity. One of the common results of dental decay is pulpitis—inflammation of the tooth-pulp—or toothache produced by the pyogenic bacteria. This is an exceedingly painful affection while it lasts, which sooner or later ends in death of the organ and remission of the pain. Little children frequently suffer great agony from this form of dental disease when their teeth are neglected and allowed to decay. Dento-alveolar A bscess — gum-boil — usually follows death of the pulp after an interval of from two to four weeks, by