The natural history of the human teeth : explaining their structure, use, formation, growth, and diseases / by John Hunter ; with notes by Eleazar Parmly.

  • Hunter, John, 1728-1793.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The natural history of the human teeth : explaining their structure, use, formation, growth, and diseases / by John Hunter ; with notes by Eleazar Parmly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    or what we shall call the first Bicuspis, is the first tooth that has a double edge. OF THE NUMBER OF TEETH. Their number in the whole, at full maturity, is from twenty-eight to thirty-two: I once saw twenty-seven only,never more than thirty-two. Fourteen of them are placed in each jaw, when the whole number is no more than twenty eight; and sixteen, when there are thirty-two. If the whole be twenty-nine or thirty-one in number, the upper jaw sometimes, and sometimes the lower has one more than the other; and when the number is thirty, I find them sometimes divided equally between the two jaws ; and in other subjects sixteen of them are in one jaw, and fourteen in the other. In speaking of the number of teeth, I am supposing that none of them have been pulled out, or otherwise lost; but that there are from eight to twelve of those large posterior teeth, which I call grinders, and that they are so close plant- ed as to make a continuity in the circle : and in this case, when the number is less than thirty-two, the deficiency is in the last grinder. The teeth differ very much in figure from one another; but those on the right side in each jaw resemble exactly those on the left, so as to be in pairs; and the pairs belonging to the upper jaw nearly re- semble the corresponding teeth of the lowTer jaw in situation, figure, and use. Each tooth is divided into two parts, viz: first, the body, or that part of it which is the thickest, and stands bare beyond the Alveoli and gums; secondly, the fang, or root which is lodged within the gum and Alveolar Process : and the boundary between these two parts, which is grasped by the edge of the gum, is called the neck of a tooth. The bodies of the different teeth differ very much in shape and size, and so do their roots. The difference must be considered hereafter. The teeth of each jaw are commonly divided into three classes, viz : Incisors, Canine, and Grinders; but from considering some cir- cumstances of their form, growth and use, I choose to divide them into the four following classes, viz : Incisores, commonly called Fore Teeth; Cuspidati, vulgarly called Canine; Bicuspides, or the two first Grinders; and Molares. or the three last Teeth. The number of each class, in each jaw, for the most part, is four Incisores, two Cuspidati, four Bicuspides, and four, five, or six Molares. There is a regular gradation, both in growth and form through these classes, from the Incisores to the Molares, in which respect the Cuspidati are of a middle nature, between the Incisores and Bicus- pides, as the last are between the Cuspidati and Molares ; and thence the Incisores and Molares are the most unlike in every circumstance. OF THE INCISORES. The Incisores are situated in the anterior part of the jaw; the oth- ers more backwards on each side, in the order in which we have named them. The bodies of the Incisores are broad, having two flat