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far as to penetrate the bony structure of the tooth, and can
in any proper manner be made to receive and retain a plug,
by which I always mean a metallic filling of the cavity, &c.
we ought to make it an universal rule and not to be departed
from, to fill the cavity with a metallic substance, as will be
particularly described and detailed in a subsequent section on
that subject. But many cases will occur, when the caries
has merely penetrated the enamel, or acting upon it, and has
not much affected the bony structure of the tooth, as is es-
pecially the case in those instances, when the caries excites
so much sensibility of the bone, and is arrested in some de-
gree, and then proceeds superficially upon the tooth. In
this state of caries it becomes our duty to remove it ; having
previously however removed the tartar from the teeth, and
by every dental operation required, placed the mouth in a
healthy condition, so that no disease or cause of disease shall
be present, save the caries which we are to operate upon,
and then our operation will in most cases be successful in
arresting the progress of the disease. But if we presume to
operate upon the teeth in removing carious portions of them,
without at the same time or before placing the gums and the
other teeth in a healthy condition, we shall, instead of curing,
aggravate the disease. We shall by denuding the bone of
the tooth in order to remove the carious portion, expose it to
be acted upon by all those destructive agents which I have
before notified, as being present in every unhealthy state of the
teeth and gums, and consequently our operation adds by the
irritation it induces to an already over inflamed and irritated
state of the gums, jaws and teeth ; and the caries in the
teeth which are operated on, proceeds with increased vio-
lence to the complete destruction of the teeth. Very often
under these circumstances, a tooth or two or more, in which
caries had made but little progress, upon being operated on
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