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John Hunter,  Treatise on the Natural History and Diseases of the Human Teeth, 1778


The alveolar processes of both jaws should rather be considered as belonging to the teeth than as parts of the jaws; for they begin to be formed with the teeth, keep pace with them in their growth, and decay and entirely disappear when the teeth fall out; so that if we had no teeth, it is likely we should not only have no sockets, but not even these processes in which the sockets are formed; for the jaws can perform their motions, and give origin to muscles, without either the teeth or alveolar processes. In short, there is such a mutual dependence of the teeth and alveolar processes on each other, that the destruction of the one seems to be always attended with that of the other.

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