A system of dental surgery / by John Tomes and Charles S. Tomes.

  • Tomes, John, 1815-1895.
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A system of dental surgery / by John Tomes and Charles S. Tomes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    557/776 (page 545)
    TUMOURS OF THE GUMS. Several varieties of tumour are met with in the moutli, springing either from the gnras themselves, or from the subjacent structures, i. e. the alveolar periosteum or the bone at the margins of the alveoli. Polypus or fungus of the gum, hypertrophy of the gum, vascular tumours, aud epulis constitute the principal varieties. Polypus or Funyus of the Gum.—It is not uncommon to find a cavity situated on the mesial or distal surface of a tooth tilled u]i by a va.scular mass, similar in colour and general ai)[)earance to the contiguous gums. It may be an outgrowth from the dental pulp (see p. more commonly, however, it springs from the iuter-dental gum, or, according to Ur. Magitot('), from the periosteum investing the neck of the tooth. On a close examination it will be found that the tooth has ♦ decayed down to the level, or even helow the edge of the gum, leaving a sharp, ragged margin, cajiable of acting as a source of irritation; that the gum has grown uji from a flattened pedicle, aud expanded out .so as to lill up the cavity in the tooth; in other words, that a tumour has been ])roduced by local irritation. The structure of these growths is very similar to that of the tissues from which they spring. They are for the most ]>art made up of fibrous tissue, with nuclei and fusiform cells; the surface is covered by greatly-enlarged jjapilL'e aud a thin epithelium. The occurrence of pain is not a necessary consequence. (1) Dr. E. Magilot. iind fit's. 7, 7ci. “ Meuioire sur Ics Tuineiirs Ju IMrloste DunUilrf, p. 5S, 2 N