Page 414 - My FlipBook

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Different sizes should be had by the dentist, so as never to
much enlarge the external opening, only so far as barely
to remove the external caries. This should be done with
great care and nicety, for upon its proper performance
the success of the operation considerably depends. It' the
nerve is exposed, the utmost care must be used not to wound
it, and at the same time to remove all the caries near it. I
will here mention a very objectionable mode of preparing
the cavity for the plug, and also a most injurious manner of
introducing or compacting the metal. It is by using a com-
mon drill, turned with a bow and string, to prepare the cavity
and fit it for the plug, and then to introduce the metal and
farther compact it by using a hammer and punch. The most
pernicious consequences often follow this practice : in the
cavity not being often perfectly cleared of the carious matter,
and of the inflamed and diseased part, which is absolutely ne-
cessary to the proper performance of the operation ; in the
next place, the heat and irritation arising from the use of the
drill, often excites an irritable and inflamed state of the bony
substance of the tooth, if not of the nerve and lining mem-
brane. The hammer and punch when used' to drive in the
plug, cause great pain in the operation and injure the tooth.
I lately saw the front incisor tooth shown me by a lady re-
siding in this city, which she had plugged some time since.
The plug was introduced on the front surface, near the mid-
dle of the tooth, close to the gum. The operation was con-
ducted as I have before mentioned, and in hammering in the
plug, the enamel of the tooth was split from the edge of the
gum, to the very lower cutting edge of the tooth. I could
mention several more cases I have seen of the injury result-
ing from this practice, but I do not think it necessary, as I
am persuaded that no judicious surgeon dentist, will ever
adopt this very objectionable mode of performing the opera-