Page 266 - My FlipBook

262 OPERATIVE DENTISTRY

der the crown but posterior to it, giving the root a curve backward.
A common error is made when the force of traction is applied at a
right angle to the plane of occlusion. There should be no rotation.
I or as these are double-rooted teeth rotation accomplishes nothing
except to increase the pain by alternately increasing and releasing
the pressure upon the highlj^ Avascular and sensitive peridental
membrane. Pressure should be directly buccal. Although it may
seem to the operator that the process is thinner upon the lingual
aspect of the inferior maxilla?, this is generally not the case. Yet,
.as with all lower teeth, a malocclusion or an irregularity may make
the process thicker on the buccal surface.
Superior Third Molars. Rotation is applied in but one direction,
one that would roll the top of the hand towards the median line.
Pressure should be buccal and at the same time distal. Being the

Fig. 135.—One of the many abnormal conditions found when extracting upper second and
third molars. In this case the first molar was the only one which had erupted. The patient
was about forty years of age. A very severe abscess appeared beneath the tissues overlying
the second and third molars. An incision revealed the condition. The photograph shows the
result of extracting, all three coming out attached.

last tooth in the mouth and seated at the angle of the jaw, it is not
very firmly supported by the process, which in some cases is almost
entirely wanting on the posterior buccal corner.
Inferior Third Molars. Traction should not be only upward,
but backward, which can be accomplished after grasping the tooth
with the beaks of the forceps, and allowing the handle to lie across
and near the anterior, inferior teeth. As the traction is applied the
handles are raised and have an amount of spring which will tilt the
crown backwards in proportion to the distance the anterior teeth are
separated by the opening of the mouth. Here we have the only
tooth in which there is an almost universal exception to the direction
in which the pressure should be applied to be in the line of the
least resistance. In the case of the third inferior molar, it is to the
lingual. The coronoid process of the inferior maxillae comes down