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174 EXAMINATION OF TEETH.
necessary preliminary to the treatment of any diseased or disturbed condi-
tion Avliich may appear. The importance of this procedure cannot be
overestimated, as on it depends the formation of a correct diagnosis
of departures from the normal state and it becomes a basis for the
formulation of plans for the treatment required to restore the teeth and
the related structures to a state of health, as well as to define the order
in which the several operations shall be taken up, since an orderly pre-
cedence in the treatment of individual teeth is frequently necessary.
It is essential that the examination be most thorough, to prevent any
failure to notice the least defect; since an unobserved slight lesion may
become a deeper injury in a few months, and the consequences of an
oversight may prove serious.

Appliances used in Examination.
The appliances required to effect thorough observation of every
portion of each tooth to ascertain the extent of any lesion are of several
kinds, viz. mirrors, magnifying glasses, explorers, floss silk, and wedges.
The MIRRORS should be both plane and concave. The plane mirror
is important as a means to assist by the reflected image in determining
the position of defects ; the concave as an adjunct to effect illumination,
as it concentrates the rays of light and also may be used to produce an
enlarged image. The enlarged image, however, is less sharp in defini-
tion than the image of the plane mirror.
Working to the Image,—The plane mirror is an important adjunct in
all operative procedures connected with the teeth. Many situations in
the mouth do not permit the direct reflection of the rays of light to the
eye without assuming positions of the body and of the head of the
operator which are awkward and embarrassing to free movement of the
hand, as well as necessitating inconvenient and tiresome positions of the
head of the patient. In addition, it frequently is impossible to secure
correct observation of the progress of various procedures by direct
vision. These difficulties may be overcome by the movements of
the hand being directed by the image of the field of the pro-
cedure on the mirror. This method of working to the image is at first
difficult to the novice, since the images are reversed ; but by continued
effort it becomes as easy to make correct application of movements by
this method as by the direct rays of light. Further continued practice
in this way renders the movements so completely under reflex control
that the operator passes from a direct movement to a reverse one, and
the contrary, without an apparent effort of the brain. This is equally
true in all the various movements, even of those where the employment
of considerable force is required.