Anomalies and Curiosities of MedicineGould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Science
Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Abnormalities, Human; Medicine -- Anecdotes
Anomalies of the Teeth.--Pliny, Colombus, van Swieten, Haller,
Marcellus Donatus, Baudelocque, Soemmering, and Gardien all cite
instances in which children have come into the world with several teeth
already erupted. Haller has collected 19 cases of children born with
teeth. Polydorus Virgilus describes an infant who was born with six
teeth. Some celebrated men are supposed to have been born with teeth;
Louis XIV was accredited with having two teeth at birth. Bigot, a
physician and philosopher of the sixteenth century; Boyd, the poet;
Valerian, Richard III, as well as some of the ancient Greeks and
Romans, were reputed to have had this anomaly. The significance of the
natal eruption of teeth is not always that of vigor, as many of the
subjects succumb early in life. There were two cases typical of fetal
dentition shown before the Academie de Medecine de Paris. One of the
subjects had two middle incisors in the lower jaw and the other had one
tooth well through. Levison saw a female born with two central incisors
in the lower jaw.
Thomas mentions a case of antenatal development of nine teeth. Puech,
Mattei, Dumas, Belluzi, and others report the eruption of teeth in the
newborn. In Dumas' case the teeth had to be extracted on account of
ulceration of the tongue. Instances of triple dentition late in life
are quite numerous, many occurring after a hundred years. Mentzelius
speaks of a man of one hundred and ten who had nine new teeth. Lord
Bacon cites the case of a Countess Desmond, who when over a century old
had two new teeth; Hufeland saw an instance of dentition at one hundred
and sixteen; Nitzsch speaks of one at one hundred, and the Ephemerides
contain an account of a triple dentition at one hundred and twenty.
There is an account of a country laborer who lost all his teeth by the
time he arrived at his sixtieth year of age, but about a half year
afterward a new set made their appearance. Bisset mentions an account
of an old woman who acquired twelve molar teeth at the age of
ninety-eight. Carre notes a case of dental eruption in an individual of
eighty-five. Mazzoti speaks of a third dentition, and Ysabeau writes of
dentition of a molar at the age of ninety-two. There is a record of a
physician of the name of Slave who retained all his second teeth until
the age of eighty, when they fell out; after five years another set
appeared, which he retained until his death at one hundred. In the same
report there is mentioned an old Scotchman who died at one hundred and
ten, whose teeth were renewed at an advanced age after he had lost his
second teeth. One of the older journals speaks of dentition at seventy,
eighty-four, ninety, and one hundred and fourteen. The Philosophical
Transactions of London contain accounts of dentition at seventy-five
and eighty-one. Bassett tells of an old woman who had twelve molar
teeth at the age of eighty-eight. In France there is recorded dentition
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account