Treatise Upon the Genesis and Development of the Dental Follicles to the Epoch of the Eruption of the Teeth. [Volume: 2, Issue: 10, May, 1861, pp. 529-535]

GENESIS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE DENTAL FOLLICLES. 533

There they are still more flexuous and, in places, folded back upon themselves in very elegant windings; and sometimes forming small agglomerations of capillaries, which are found, however, throughout the whole
extent of the wall itself. They are the most abundant elements of these
folds or prolongations, which are scarcely one or two-tenths of a millimetre in length, and resemble under the microscope flat villosities; these
capillaries are accompanied by laminated fibres. The face of the follicular wall is contiguous to the organ of the enamel;* it is nevertheless
separated from it by a bed of epithelium, consisting of a single range of
very small cells in spherical nuclei, which extends to the furrow that
forms the wall by uniting with the bulb; and, consequently, it extends to
the edge of the range of cells of the enamel. We will return, however,
to this point in the following chapter.
~ 5. Of the dental bulb, in particular.-The size of the dental bulb
increases rapidly as long as that part of it which is turned toward the
mucous membrane is not entirely covered by the ivory. The increase in
the size of the follicle is in some degree proportional to that of the mass
of that organ. This enlargement soon becomes less in the base of the
bulb, at the level of its junction with the wall, as above mentioned. In
consequence of this, it remains narrower at that point than near the middle, or near the opposite side; it appears to be contracted, although this
may not be the case, but at this level may have acquired a volume relatively less.
The projecting part of the bulb always remains separated from the
deep face of the follicular wall by the organ of the enamel, which has
increased still more in extent. It has also lost its conical shape and
assumed a new one, which varies for each species of tooth. The bulb of
the incisors, (P1. I., fig. 1, a,) after having increased in width at the level
of its free edge, is disposed in bevels, or rather, in angles; the edge
becomes slightly undulated, forming three small swellings which are separated by two small depressions. This undulation, which is elsewhere very
* After this time this face is no longer provided with an amorphous bed exceeding
its own elements; it is more dense at the surface than it is below, and it can be
isolated in certain conditions, as it can be done on the surface of the bulb. It can
also be seen that there is nothing here which can be compared to the serous membrane. This fact is directly contrary to that which has been admitted hypothetically by Bichat, Raschkow, M. Oudet, (1835,) and other authors. The above vascular
prolongations were observed by Goodsir, (1838,) and Huxley, (1853,) but they have
exaggerated the analogies between them and the intestinal villosities. Thus, there
is not originally two proper coats for the follicle essentially different from each
other, as many authors have admitted-one of the coats being fibrous, and the other
serous or internal. We will see hereafter that it is from the mucous membrane that
the wall of the follicles of the permanent teeth principally receive their vessels even
to the period of eruption.