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262 THE SELF-CLEANSING SPACE.

disfiguromont, and subsequent serious injury to the gum and peri-
cementum.
Where only an occasional space of this character was made, the
ojKM-ation ])roved a failure becausein a short time, through the pressure
of adjoining teeth and altered occlusion, the mutilated teeth would again
be brought into contact and the opportunity for decay be increased a
hundredfold. With the recurrence of decay, cutting or filing would
again have to be resorted to until but little of the teeth remained, and
they were eventually lost. On account of its unfortunate results the
method was for a time abandoned, but in 1870 it was revived in a
modified form through the teachings and writings of Dr. Robert
Arthur. His method consisted in altering the form of the approximal
surfaces of teeth by filing or grinding so as to chang,e the point of ap-
proximal contact from near the occlusal surface to near the cervical
margin. This not only changed the normally convex approximal sur-
face into a flat or plane one, but was also supposed to free it from further
liability to decay by preventing the retention of food debris and render-
ing the surfaces and spaces " self-cleansing." The method was measur-
ably adopted by numbers of conscientious practitioners as a means of
obviating a difficulty hitherto unsuccessfully combated. In a short
time, however, it was discovered that its promise of success was not
being realized, and it was also gradually abandoned. Its failure was
due to its being wrong in principle, for, while it seemed to offer tem-
porary relief, its after results were most disastrous.
By leaving a shoulder near the cervical margin the point of contact
was simply transferred from one point to another with the residt that
the latter point was far more liable to caries than the former one, owing
to its position. More than this, the exposed dentin on the cut surfaces^
lacking the natural protection of the enamel covering, was apt to be
sensitive, and the food crowding into the space and pressing upon the
gum rendered it hypersensitive and eventually caused its recession.
The discomfort following this unnatural operation, together with the
increased liability to decay resulting from it, were sufficient to condemn
the method and cause its abandonment.
These failures to secure freedom from decay by an unnatural altera-
tion of the forms of approximal surfaces led to a more careful investi-
gation of the causes responsible for its recurrence on these surfaces, and
the gradual adoption of more rational and scientific methods for its pre-
vention. It was apparent to even the most casual student of compara-
tive dental anatomy that the number and kinds of teeth found in the
jaws of man, their arrangement in the arches, and their general form
were all such as to best subserve the wants and needs of the individual,
but the more minute points of their external anatomy, their inter-