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EXAMINATIONS OF THE MOUTH. 181

faces of the teeth should be removed and the teeth washed with a
stream of tepid water. Then the surfaces of the teeth should be
gone over in some definite order which will bring the instrument
over each of the surfaces of each and every tooth in the mouth.
Any cavities of considerable size will be obvious at once, but a
closer examination than this should always be made — an exam-
ination that will reveal the beginnings of decay anywhere.
It is not important as to the particular order of this exam-
ination, so that a regular order is pursued. We may begin with
the buccal surfaces and go over them, passing the instrument
along the gingival border of each, and also passing the instru-
ment into any pits that appear in the buccal surfaces, noting
whether or not there is any softening, and whether the instru-
ment catches or enters at any point. This should be done in both
the upper and lower jaws, passing from side to side around the
mouth. Generally it is best to take the upper jaw and then the
lower, changing the position of the patient as may seem best.
The recognition of the defects or disease of the hard tissues of
the teeth must depend mostly on the knowledge one has obtained
of these by lectures, reading and practical observation.
The examination of the occlusal surfaces should be done in
the same way ; each pit in each tooth should be examined in suc-
cession in both the upper and lower jaws and the conditions
noted. Next, the lingual surfaces should be examined. Although
decay is infrequent upon the lingual surfaces of the teeth, exam-
inations reveal them sufficiently often to make this necessary,
and particularly the grooves that may occur upon the lingual
surfaces of the molars and pits upon the lingual surfaces of the
incisors.
This leaves the proximal surfaces to be examined, and they
are very much the most difficult. The discovery of incipient
decay, or decay of the enamel before the enamel rods have fallen
out, is difficult upon these surfaces, without the separation of the
teeth so that the eye can assist in the examination. The instru-
mental examination should generally be made with a delicate
pair of exploring tines, with rather short right and left curves,
that may be slipped into the interproximal space from the gingi-
val, with the point turned against the proximal surface toward
the contact point for the detection of any roughness or break in
the surface of the enamel. With a pair of these every part of
the surface of the enamel may be explored very close about the
contact between the two teeth. An important aid may be had in
this examination by the passing of a ligature through the contact