Note (11) — CANTO SECOND.

The protrusion of the second set of teeth is, in general, attended with no pain or uneasiness. This set, when complete, consists of thirty-two teeth, being twelve more than the first set. But though the regular number of the second set of teeth is thirty-two, a deficiency of this number sometimes occurs, and this deficiency is generally confined to the dentes sapientiæ, or wisdom teeth. Sometimes the lateral incisors, and not unfrequently one or both of the upper canine teeth, are found wanting; the protrusion of the dentes sapientiæ, at times, does not take place till the fortieth year, and, in some instances, not even then.

There are cases recorded of persons never having any teeth; one case of this kind has come under my own observation, and in that instance the gums were sufficiently callous to answer every purpose of mastication. I have frequently been informed that there is a family living in South Carolina, several members of which have no teeth, where the processes and gums are so perfectly well formed and elongated, as to make the defect hardly perceptible.

The removal of the temporary teeth is a curious operation of nature. The fangs being absorbed, they loosen by degrees, and are pushed from their situations by the pressure of the second set. But there are instances in which this absorption does not take place, and, consequently, the second set not being permitted to come forward in their proper places, become irregular and deformed. The only means of preventing this irregularity and deformity, is timely extraction.