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FINISHING FILLINGS. 297
Finishing Fillings.
Much of the beauty and utility of a fillino; is imparted to it in the
finishing. It is not enough that it be well made, it must also be -well
finished if the best results are to be attained.
All fillings should contain rather more gold than it is intended shall
remain, and this for the purpose of dressing down to such lines as will
be artistic and practical.
Fillings that are not well condensed cannot be given a fine finish.
Solidity of the surface is an essential (piality. After the last piece of
gold has been well condensed it is well to give the surfiice a thorough
burnishing for the purpose of getting a compact surface as well as to
insure perfect contact with the margins of the cavity.
The simple fillings upon the occlusal surfiice of the bicuspids and
molars are best dressed down with small finishing burs, as shown in
Fig. 261. These are fine cut and leave
Fk;. 261.
the gold with a better surface than when
cavity burs are used for this purpose.
The gold should be cut away until
the margin of the cavity has been
reached and until all overlapping of
gold has been removed. The occlusion
of the tooth of the opposite jaw should
Plug linishiiis burs
be noted, and, if it occludes unduly with
the filling, enough should be taken from the surface of the gold to pre-
vent it. When a uniform surface has been given to the gold, a suitable

Fig. 262.

Wood polishing points.
W'ood point as shown in Fig. 262 should be mounted in an engine man-
drel and dipped first in water and then in fine pumice powder and the
surface nicely smoothed. A round-end burnisher may be used if the
operator desires a polished surface, although it adds nothing to cither
the beauty or the utility of the filling.
When fillings cover a larger portion of the occlusal surfiice the dress-
ing down may be done with corundum points, which if kept wet will
cut more rapidly than l)urs and cause less heating. These arc shown in
Fig. 263, and are of many patterns and admirably adapted to all parts