PROCEEDINGS OF DENTAL SOCIETIES.

EDITORIAL.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL.

OBITUARY.

PERISCOPE.

Hints And Queries 63, 128, 189, 317, 383, 445, 511, 639, 702, 768
THE

DENTAL COSMOS.

Vol. XXVII. PHILADELPHIA, JANUAKY, 1885. No. 1.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

THE FIEST DENTITION,

BY J. W. WHITE, M.D.

That acute observer and distinguished physiognomist and con-
troversialist, Lavater, has left many epigrammatic remarks worthy
of attention, but none more deserving of remembrance than the fol-
lowing—the failure to observe the principle involved being very con-
spicuous in these days of experiment and discussion:

"He only sees well who sees the whole in the parts and the parts
in the whole. I know but three classes of men: those who see the
whole, those who see but a part, and those who see both together."

This concise presentation is in substance thus commented on by
one who has accustomed himself to measure men by the Lavater
standard: "Of these three classes, the party of the second part is
doubtless in the majority; the party of the first part next in
numerical preponderance, and the party of the third part—those
who can take in the general in their mental scope, and still distin-
guish and duly weigh the parts—are in a feeble minority. If they
were not too small a party to form a constant power in politics,
theology, or science, floods of words and oceans of ink would be
saved. Class number three is the best one in which to enroll one's
self for all purposes of investigation."

Much of the divergence of opinion with reference to medical and
dental practice is explainable only on the assumption that the ex-
tremists on either side belong to the party of the second part.

A report of a discussion which recently took place before a medi-

cal association represents one of the speakers as saying that den-

tition had no more influence in the causation of pathological con-

ditions than have the growth of the hair and the nails,—basing his

assertion on the fact that they were alike physiological processes.

On the other hand, lancing of the gums was deemed good routine

practice whenever there occurred a departure from a normal eon-

Vol. xxvn.—l.

dition during the teething period. Thus, the derangements of health which are so frequent and so serious during the period occupied in the eruption of the deciduous teeth are viewed by these extremists either as having no relation whatever to dental evolution, or as almost invariably dependent upon this process. As is generally the case, the truth is probably midway between these two extremes.

Dentition is without controversy a physiological process, and under conditions in every respect favorable may proceed with little or no disturbance to the child. So, also, are the beginning and cessation of menstruation physiological processes. Such, also, is uterogestation. These, however, are subject to perversions and deflections, which not infrequently place them within the domain of pathology, and it seems not unreasonable to assume that dentition is frequently concerned in the production or aggravation of infantile derangements. Those, therefore, who assume that in every case of dentition mechanical help is desirable and useful, if not absolutely necessary, are, it would seem, as much in error as are those who teach that such help is never required.

When dental evolution proceeds without apparent disturbance, interference would be manifestly unwise and improper. But there are other cases in which the indications point so plainly to dental complications as the disturbing element that only preconceived opinions could prevent their recognition.

The peculiar impressibility of infancy, and the direct and sympathetic relations of the teeth to the whole organism, should be considered in forming a judgment as to the probability of disturbances of equilibrium resulting from any want of accord between the propulsive and resistive forces concerned in the liberation of the dental organs from theirosseous and fibrous coverings. So, also, should the special tendency in infancy to reflex phenomena—explainable by the predominance of the spinal system—be accorded the importance to which it is entitled.

Nor should the fact be overlooked or disregarded that the body of an infant is characterized by peculiarities of structure and function differing from the adult. These differences explain the tendency of disease in children to assume a sthenic type, and also explain the facility with which morbid action is transferred by extension, metastasis, or reflection to organs not originally implicated; the activity of the vascular system, the free supply of blood to the tissues, and the susceptibility of the nervous system contributing to the creation of a special liability to intense and dangerous reactions from local irritation. Yarious cftuses may produce such an irritation of the spinal centers that the coordinating function of the brain may be