The etiology of osseous deformities of the head, face, jaws and teeth.

  • Eugene Solomon Talbot
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The etiology of osseous deformities of the head, face, jaws and teeth. 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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    uncooked meats. This coarse food required considerable mastication in order to be prepared for the chemical changes which are necessary before assimihition can take place. As a result of use, the muscles of the jaw were dense and hard, and when contraction took place they stood out upon the sides of the head like large cords. The bones were well developed; they were also of dense and hard structure; the processes for the attachment of muscles were prominent and large, and the teeth were large and set deep in the alveolar process. These physical conditions are noticeable only in those persons who use their masticatory apparatus a great deal, as tobacco-chewers, and are also seen in public speakers and sing- ers. To such an extent has the art of mastication become obsolete that the food is now swallowed whole, or in a semi- masticated condition. The muscles have become flabby, the jaws more slender, and the processes for the attachments of muscles are almost, if not quite, obliterated. The diflerence in the size of the superior and inferior maxillae is a marked illustration of the result arising from the use and disuse of these bones. It is a singular fact that the greater number of irregularities of the teeth occur upon the upper jaw; when they are found upon the lower jaw, the irregularities are due to local causes. The upper jaw is a fixed bone, and the blood-supply is small from a lack of stimulus—i.e., movement, and hence arrest of development is marked. On the other hand, the lower jaw being movable, more blood flows to the part, which thus becomes much more developed. As a further illustration of the results arising from the use and disuse of the upper and lower jaws, I desire to direct attention to the following fact: It is known to all dentists that the teeth upon the upper jaw are more subject to decay than those upon the lower jaw, although the environment of the teeth upon the lower jaw, especially the bicuspids and molars, renders them more subject to decay than those upon the upper. Tomes says:* ' The diiferent teeth are not equally * Dental Surgery, p. 273.