Page 211 - My FlipBook

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I mention it merely as a well-known fact, to show the value
of allowing the root or fangs of a tooth to remain. This
operation I have called the operation of Excision, and I
recommend it as a most valuable substitute for the extrac-
tion of the teeth, in the majority of cases of caries, but by
no means to supersede it altogether, as there are, and must
ever be, cases requiring the entire extraction of the teeth,
when disease has proceeded beyond a certain point, as for
example, beyond the common cavity, which I have cursorily
described, or when the jaw itself is diseased.
this operation, are
" The instruments employed by me in
forceps, accurately fitted, like those for extraction, to the
necks of the teeth, but having fine, well-tempered, cutting
edges ; these edges must be carefully applied on the necks
of the teeth, as close to the gums as possible, taking care to
keep the edges parallel to the edges of the gums, which are
to be depressed a little with the inferior surface of the blades
of the forceps, so as to bring the cutting edges fairly beneath
the enamel, which in the adult, is the criterion of being be-
low the common cavity of the tooth. Then, with a gradual
application of pressure on the handles of the forceps, the
tooth is in an instant snapped off at the neck, and the com-
mon cavity, the seat of the pain, is thus removed, leaving the
patient a painless, bony surface for mastication, a firm prop
for the support of the adjoining teeth, and a basis for an arti-
ficial tooth, if it should be required. I may mention here a
fact never bffore noticed, namely, that the openings by which
the minute canals terminate in the common cavity, become
soon after plugged up with bony matter, which thus affords
a permanent protection to the interior of the stump, and pre-
sents a continuous and firm surface for after life. In addi-
tion to these advantages, the operation is performed even on
the largest teeth, in a moment, and consequently, at a great
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