Page 943 - My FlipBook

DISEASES OF THE PERIDENTAL MEMBRASE, ETC. 953
the meeting of the Illinois State Dental Society of 1873—is superior to
it in the last. It seems Avell demonstrated that either of these materials
can be so manipulated as to make a thoroughly solid root-filling, but in
very delicate and tortuous canals the gutta-percha can be more easily
forced to the apex than the gold. When the pulp-chamber and root-
canals are solidly filled with either of these, the possibility of the forma-
tion of septic matter within them is at an end. The methods of
manipulation by which the filling is accomplished belong rather to the
ojjerative department, and their consideration in detail here would occupy
too much space.
The time at which a permanent root-filling should be made is an
important consideration which must depend on the judgment of the
operator in each individual case. Except in some peculiar cases, the
healino; of the abscess should be assured before the filling; is undertaken:
it is best that the abscess be actually Avell. When the operator is as-
sured of this, the sooner the root is filled, the better. In those cases in
which the apex of the root is cut away in order to remove from its dis-
tal side the last traces of a deposit of serumal calculus, it is probably
best to fill the root at once, for the reason that the foramen may be cut
to a })oint where it is rather large ; if the root is at once filled, any
material that is forced through into the apical space can readily be
removed and the end of the root made smooth. Otherwise than in
some such case as this the filling of the root before the abscess is well
is not to be recommended. The principal reason for delay is the fact
that the best means of treatment is through the open root-canals ; there-
fore this avenue should not be closed until the operator is assured that
it will no longer be needed.

Diseases of the Peridental Membrane having their Begin-
ning AT THE Margin of the Gum.
This group of diseases has generally been passed over without very
accurate description by authors who have written on the subject in past
years. They have universally been grouped together under one name
without clifFerentiation. This name has varied with the different writers
to such an extent that in looking over the literature of the subject we
find almost as many names as authors. Spongy gums, inflammation of
the gums, scurvy of the gums, false scurvy, diseased gums, gingivitis,
pericementitis, suppurati\'e inflanmiation of the gums, pyorrhoea alveo-
laris, odontolithus, etc., are among the terms most commonly used. The
descriptions of this class of affections as given in works on dental sub-
jects have generally been very short and imperfect, and even to-day I
know of no book or writing that can be said to give a complete treat-
ment of this branch of pathology. There have, however, appeared in
the journals during recent years a number of very important papers
treating of special phases of the subject which have had the effect of
calling general attention to and of awakening interest in it- In this
work Dr. J. M. Riggs of Hartford, Conn., has very justly the credit of
having taken the initiative. Others had treated of the subject before
Dr. Riggs, but this gentleman, by rej)eatedly calling attention to it in