found atrophy of all the dental follicles in a woman of sixty who never
had possessed any teeth. Fanton-Touvet saw a boy of nine who had never
had teeth, and Fox a woman who had but four in both jaws; Tomes cites
several similar instances. Hutchinson speaks of a child who was
perfectly edentulous as to temporary teeth, but who had the permanent
teeth duly and fully erupted. Guilford describes a man of forty-eight,
who was edentulous from birth, who also totally lacked the sense of
smell, and was almost without the sense of taste; the surface of his
body was covered with fine hairs and he had never had visible
perspiration. This is probably the same case quoted in the foregoing
paragraph in regard to the anomalies of hair. Otto, quoted by Sedgwick,
speaks of two brothers who were both totally edentulous. It might be
interesting in this connection to note that Oudet found in a fetus at
term all the dental follicles in a process of suppuration, leaving no
doubt that, if the fetus had been born viable, it would have been
edentulous. Giraldes mentions the absence of teeth in an infant of
sixteen months. Bronzet describes a child of twelve, with only half
its teeth, in whom the alveolar borders receded as in age. Baumes
remarks that he had seen a man who never had any teeth.

The anomalies of excessive dentition are of several varieties, those of
simple supernumerary teeth, double or triple rows, and those in
anomalous positions. Ibbetson saw a child with five incisors in the
inferior maxillary bone, and Fanton-Touvet describes a young lady who
possessed five large incisors of the first dentition in the superior
maxilla. Rayer notes a case of dentition of four canines, which first
made their appearance after pain for eight days in the jaws and
associated with convulsions. In an Ethiopian Soemmering has seen one
molar too many on each side and in each jaw. Ploucquet and Tesmer have
seen five incisors and Fanchard six. Many persons have the
supernumerary teeth parallel with their neighbors, anteriorly or
posteriorly. Costa reports a case in which there were five canine teeth
in the upper jaw, two placed laterally on either side, and one on the
right side behind the other two. The patient was twenty-six years of
age, well formed and in good health.

In some cases there is fusion of the teeth. Pliny, Bartholinus, and
Melanthon pretend to have seen the union of all the teeth, making a
continuous mass. In the "Musee de l'ecole