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290 THIRD PERIOD-MODERN TIMES
One of Fauchard's greatest merits consists in the improvements intro-
duced by him in dental prosthesis and in his having, besides, been the
first to treat of this most important part of dental art in a clear and
particularized manner.
The materials then most used in dental prosthesis were human teeth,
hippopotamus tusks, ivory of the best quality, and ox-bone/
The author minutely describes the methods to be followed to repair
dental losses in every possible case and of whatever extent.
According to the circumstances, Fauchard used, for maintaining arti-
ficial teeth in their place, linen, silk, or gold thread, passed through holes
made in them, and tied to the natural teeth.
When a set of two, three, four, or more teeth was to be applied, Fauchard
first prepared them separately and then united them together by means of
one or two threads of gold or silver in such a manner that the set formed
at last a single piece, which was then fixed to the natural teeth. When the
piece consisted of several teeth it was reinforced with a small plate of
gold or silver fixed to its inside by means of small tacks of the same metal
riveted on one side to the plate, on the other to the front part of each tooth.
The author remarks that a similar prosthetic piece lasted longer than
those previously described, but required proportionately much more work
and much greater expense. He adds that, by employing this plate, one
can even dispense with threading and fixing the teeth together with gold
or silver wire; but that it was then necessary to make a horizontal groove
at the back of each tooth corresponding to the width and thickness of the
plate, which could be fitted into the serial groove and fixed to each single
tooth by means of two small rivets."
At other times the prosthesis was earned out in a single piece of material
(ivory, hippopotamus tusk, etc.) that was carved in such a manner as to
substitute exactly the teeth wanting, it being fixed to the natural teeth
in the usual manner.
Fauchard sometimes left the dental roots in their place (if they were in
good condition), applying upon them artificial crowns, which he either
bound to the neighboring teeth or fixed with screws to the respective roots.
"When one wishes to apply an artificial crown to the root of a natural
tooth, one files away the part of the root that emerges above the gum, and
even more if possible. One then removes, with proper instruments, all
that is decayed in the root itself; after which one stops the root canal with
lead and fits the base of the artificial tooth to the root in such a manner
that they correspond perfectly to each other. One drills one or two holes
in the tooth through which to pass the ends of a thread, which serves
to fasten it to the natural teeth on each side of it, as described above.

' Vol. ii, cliap. xiii, p. 215. ' Vol. ii, pp. 217 to 224.