General Anatomy, Applied to Physiology and Medicine, Vol. 2 (of 3)Bichat, Xavier
Science
General Anatomy, Applied to Physiology and Medicine, Vol. 2 (of 3)
Bichat, Xavier
Human anatomy; Human physiology
Is the enamel organized, or is it only a fluid which, oozing at
first from the external surface of the tooth, afterwards becomes
there hardened and concrete? This question is not I think easy to
be resolved. The enamel has in fact attributes which seem equally
favourable to both these opinions. On the one hand it is sensible,
like every thing that is organized; it gives us, much more evidently
than the hair or the nails, the sensation of bodies which strike it.
The diluted acids, the vegetable especially, raise its sensibility so
much, that the least touch becomes very painful a long time after their
use. The teeth are then, as we call it, on edge. On the other hand the
enamel has many characters that seem to denote a want of organization.
1st. It never inflames, or becomes the seat of any tumour, or any
alteration which softens its texture; it never experiences any
alteration, which by raising its life, renders it more sensible than in
a natural state, as happens to the hair, for example, which ordinarily
insensible, has a very great vital activity in the plica polonica. In
fact we often judge of the vitality of organs more by their morbid
alterations, than by their natural state. 2d. It appears that there
does not take place in the enamel alternate exhalation and absorption
of nutritive matters, or at least if it does, it is not sensible.
Rubbing wears away this substance, which is never replaced; this is
remarkable in old people, and in those who are in the habit of often
striking their teeth together. We know that we file the enamel like an
inorganic body, and that it is not reproduced, whilst the hair and the
nails evidently grow after being cut. File the extremity of a long bone
after amputation; fleshy granulations will soon grow upon the filed
surface; the action of the instrument will be a stimulus which will
develop the vital phenomena.
The osseous portion of the tooth composes the whole of the root and the
interior of the crown; it is formed by the compact texture, very dense,
having great resemblance to that of stone. It has none of the texture
of the cells. Its fibres, very close to each other, have various
directions, very difficult to trace, but which in general follow
that of the roots; it is necessary, in order to see this direction
perfectly, to soften the teeth in an acid.
Each tooth has a cavity situated in the crown, of the same form as the
crown, diminishing in diameter as we advance in age, communicating
externally by small canals, the number of which is equal to that of the
distinct roots of the tooth, and which open at the end of these roots.
This cavity is lined by a very delicate membrane on which the vessels
ramify, and which, with its opposite face, covers the marrow.
_Soft Portion of the Tooth._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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