Page 48 - My FlipBook

16 THE TECHNICAL PBOCEDUEES IN FILLING TEETH.

• In this use of words, it must be borne in mind that when
the adverbial form is used, it indicates direction. Mesio-distally
means from mesial to the distal. Bucco-lingually means from
the cheek toward the tongue, etc. This use of words is so simple
that it should only require mention to be perfectly understood.
Surgeons continually use this plan in speaking of the location
of fractures of the bones. As, for instance, the humerus was
broken at the junction of the middle and upper thirds, or the
radius was broken in the middle of the lower third, etc. There
is no need of any specific rules for this use of words in dividing
the surfaces of the teeth in cavity descriptions, as any divisions
intelligently made will be readily understood, and the portions
of the surface involved quite accurately described. If it is said
that a cavity in the mesial surface of a first lower molar extends
from the occlusal surface to the junction of the gingival and
middle thirds, and bucco-lingually from the mesio-buccal angle
to the jimction of the middle and lingual thirds, it should be
imderstood. The same conception of the cavity should be
obtained if it is said that it occupies the buccal two-thirds bucco-
lingually, or that it occupies the buccal and middle thirds. There
is scarcely any limit to the use that may be made in cavity
descriptions of these divisions of the surfaces of the teeth.