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have their teeth operated on, they would call soon.
One of
them called in two or three days, and by a judicious course
of operations on the principles before detailed, and which
will be hereafter, I rendered his teeth perfectly healthy.
The upper incisors, two or three, I plugged with gold, in a
very perfect manner, so that I saw him the next November,
and his teeth were all in fine order and health. While plug-
ging his teeth, he told me, that his friend who came with him
at first to ask my advice, had called upon another dentist,
who persuaded him, that tin foil was far better than gold for
plugging the teeth, that it was retained longer, and was in all
respects quite preferable to gold
; and so little was the young
gentleman acquainted with the subject, that he suffered the
dentist to plug his teeth with tin foil, and two or three of his
incisores, one of which he said was so far decayed, that he
thought best to leave it to ultimate destruction. Now, any
person can see the result of this case ; a gradual oxidation,
to a certain extent, of the tin immediately commences,
which gives the substance of the tooth, opposite the plug, a
dark and repulsive appearance, and what is far worse, be-
yond comparison, that by the gradual oxidation of the tin,
the caries of the tooth is suffered to go on, favoured by the
oxidizing metal, and ultimate destruction of the tooth is the
inevitable consequence; whilst those, as in the first case,
plugged with gold, will remain in all probability, external
caries excepted, during the life of the patient, precisely as
when first introduced. It is but a few weeks since I saw
the front incisor shown me by a young lady, which had been
plugged about two years and with lead, in which the lead was
almost completely oxidated, and the caries had proceeded so
far as to entirely destroy the vitality, and almost the sub-
stance of the tooth ; so much so, that I could pass a probe
directly through the front surface of the tooth, which was