Dental caries; and, The prevention of dental caries.

  • Sewill, Henry
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dental caries; and, The prevention of dental caries. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Messrs. Tomes’ well-known Manual. The former of these is a most masterly work. Written by one of the most dis- tinguished professors of general pathology, it is free from the narrowness so difficult for any specialist to avoid, however philosophical his mental attitude. It is exhaustive, and leaves no fundamental fact of any kind, no observation of any respectable investigator, unexarnined. To dispute the clearly demonstrated deductions which it formulates is im- possible. Messrs. Tomes’ work is too well known to need description; that too is largely based, like Wedl’s, on original research. These authors (as well as all really com- petent writers on the subject) are in essential points in full agreement; and although neither required the corrobora- tion of the other, being each alone strong enough to prove his case, their agreement makes assurance doubly sure that their views are incontrovertible. I shall, in these papers, endeavour shortly to state what we really know about caries, and to expose the fallacies of recent authors. My contention is that there remains no room for valid difference of opinion as to the nature of caries. Approached from any side, viewed in the light of physio- logical fact, or judged by the result of observation and ex- periment, there is only one possible solution of the problem. To establish this opinion full examination of opposing facts and arguments seems the proper method ; and it is this which I have adopted. Caries is a process of disintegration, commencing in- variably at the surface of the tooth, proceeding inwards, and due entirely to external agents; enamel and dentine are passive under this process of disintegration, and mani- fest neither pathological action nor vital reaction of any kind. By pathological action I mean—(i) morbid changes in the tissues induced or produced by the influence