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SECTION V.

OF RESTORING THE SUBSTANCE OF A DECAYED TOOTH WITH
A METALIC SUBSTITUTE ; COMMONLY CALLED
PLUGGING THE TEETH.

This is an operation of great antiquity, which very nat-
urally suggests itself to the mind of the practitioner of
medicine, if he is acquainted with the structure and uses of
the teeth. For his reason would at once teach him, if he
found a cavity in a tooth, to fill it with some substance which
would exclude injurious matter, and prevent the bad effects
of cold air, &c. entering the tooth. Hence we learn that
this operation was one of very early adoption, it is said to
have been practised at an early period by the Greeks and
Romans. If properly done, this is one of the most useful
operations in dental surgery ; and if practicable, it bears the
preference to any other operation for the cure of diseased
teeth. If well done, the preservation of the tooth will be in
almost every instance complete. By excluding the pres-
ence of foreign matters from the exposed bony substance of
the tooth or its nerve, that chronic inflammation and morti-
fication upon which the progress of caries usually depends,
is entirely cured and prevented. It should be an object of
solicitude in every case when we are called upon to extract
or file the teeth, to obviate both operations by plugging then^
if in any way expedient or practicable.

Indications for the Performance of this Operation.

The indications for the performance of this operation are
generally very clear and distinct. Yet there are case* in