Page 128 - My FlipBook

108 Curative Treatment of Caries.
That the operation of plugging a carious tooth may be per-
fectly successful, it is necessary that the tooth be favorable to

penny wise and a pound foolish,-" who employ "cheap dentists," think-
ing the deiital art to be wholly mechanical—that it does not require
much science to practice it, and that one man can serve tlierr. as well as
another, and for ha!f the fee. " This ia the rock on which such persons
split," as far as the preservation of their teeth is concerned.
The operation of plugging, in order to secure complete success, must be
performed in the nicest and most substantial manner, and under iayorable
circumstances. It cannot be' hurried, for it is often extremely difficult,
and requires much patience, both on the part of the operator and patient
Mr. Koecker justly observes, that " many dental operations are as difficult
to be performed as any in general surgery, though the consequences, of
course, are not so serious." It is here that incompetent persons fail, they
do not half extirpate the disease, or properly fit the cavity for retaining
the plugging, which they then fill in such a careless manner, that it
soon falls out, or the juices of the mouth and foreign matter being ad-
mitted, the tooth decays. One of those persons who adorn our profession,
lately told us, with great gravity, that he could plug forty teeth in a day,
and as well as any man in town ! For our own part, we are not asham-
ed to confess that ten or twelve teeth, as a general rule, are as many as
we can well plug in the same time, and work hard. ^Ve have sometimes
spent an hour and a half upon a single tooth, where the operation has
been very difficult.
It may not be inappropriate for us to point out in this place, the differ-
ence between the practice of a thorough and scientific dentist, who under-
stands the laws of the animal enconomy—the laws which govern disease,
and the principles on which disease must be treated in order to effect a
curd; and that of an ignorant person, who knows nothing of these laws,
&c. .Also the great advantage that would be derived to commui
means could be"adopted toputdown quackery, and to make "every man
worthy of his hire," by obtaining a geod medical education. Further-
more, that our reasons for condemning quackery in the dental art, in the
strongest manner, are not founded in prejudice or illiberally, but in a
sense of duty that we owe to community, to our subject, and to our pro-
fession.
We believe that near one half the diseases of the teeth, may be wholly
prevented by the early and judicious application of proper means. To
effect this great object, will require a man. having a thorough knowl-
edge of the causes of these diseases and of disease in general, of tl e
natural history of the teeth, &c— in a word, a man having at least, a
knowledge of the general principles of bcth medicine and surgery, that
he may know what remedies are proper, how to direct them, and what
will be their ultimate results. (Ses page 26, 41 to 44.) An ignorant
person, no matter how hones' his intentions may be, cannot evidently,
properly apply the necessary means for the preventive treatment of the
diseases of the mouth, though this treatment, if properly directed, will
prove of more advantage to community than the curative treatment of
those diseases. He cannot treat irregularities of the teeth ; if he attempt
it, ten to one, that he does more mischief than good, and often produce
the wry state of teeth, he endeavors to prevent.—(See pages 25 and 42.)