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chaptp:r 11.
CAVITY NOMENCLATURE.

A cavity nomenclature is necessary that we may understand one
another in conversing about the formation of cavities, the descrip-
tion of their several parts and the methods of procedure in the
preparation of cavities for fillings.
Cavities derive their names from the surfaces of the teeth in
which they occur. Thus occlusal cavity, buccal cavity, labial cav-
ity, etc., are cavities occurring in the surfaces named.

Fig. 1.—Defects in enamel.

Proximal cavities are those occurring in the proximal surfaces
and are divided into tAvo classes, namely, mesial and distal.
A simple cavity is one which involves but one surface.
A complex cavity is one which, either from decay or extension
in preparation, involves more than one surface.
Complex cavities are named by combining the names of the sur-
faces of the tooth involved, as mesio-occlusal, disto-occlusal, mesio-
disto-occlusal, etc.
An axial surface cavity is one which occurs in an axial surface.
Cavities are divided as to their origin into two groups.
First. Pit and fissure cavities, which are those originating in
the minute faults in the enamel. (See Figs. 1 and 2.)
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