Swellings on the inside of the cheek or upper lip, and extending nearly
to the angle of the lip, are of frequent occurrence. A superficial sore
spreads over it, slightly covered by a yellowish, mattery pellicle; and
on the teeth, and extending down the gums, there is a deposition of
hardened tartarous matter, which is scaled off with a greater or less
degree of difficulty. It must be removed, or the sore will rapidly
spread over the cheek. A lotion of equal parts of tincture of myrrh and
water, with a few drops of the tincture of cantharides, will be usually
sufficient to cause the swelling to subside, and the pellicle to be
detached. The lip, however, will generally remain slightly thickened. A
little soreness will sometimes return, but be easily reduced.
THE TEETH
next claim attention.
According to the dentition of the dog by M. Girard and Linnæus, the
following is the acknowledged formula:
Incisors, 5/6; Canines, (1-1)/(1-1); Molars, (6-6)/(7-7),=42.
The following cuts exhibit the front teeth of the dog in various
stages of growth and decay:
[Seven illustrations, shown in full in the html version of this text.]
The full-grown dog has usually 20 teeth in the upper, and 22 in the
lower jaw, with two small supernumerary molars. All of them, with the
exception of the tushes, are provided with a bony neck covered by the
gums, and separating the body of the tooth from the root. The projecting
portion of the teeth is more or less pointed, and disposed so as to tear
and crush the food on which the dog lives. They are of a moderate size
when compared with those of other animals, and are subject to little
loss of substance compared with the teeth of the horse. In most of them,
however, there is some alteration of form and substance, both in the
incisors and the tushes; but this depends so much on the kind of food on
which the animal lives, and the consequent use of the teeth, that the
indication of the age, by the altered appearance of the mouth, is not to
be depended upon after the animal is four or five years old. The incisor
teeth are six in number in each jaw, and are placed opposite to each
other. In the lower jaw, the pincers, or central teeth, are the largest
and the strongest; the middle teeth are somewhat less; and the corner
teeth the smallest and the weakest. In the upper jaw, however, the
corner teeth are much larger than the middle ones; they are farther
apart from their neighbours, and they terminate in a conical point
curved somewhat inwards and backwards.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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