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HISTORY OF DENTAL SURGERY 185

tooth, even in shallow cavities and for a short time, without subsequent death
of the pulp in most cases.
Gutta-percha was used very soon after its introduction for capping ex-
posed pulps and is still used for that ]iurpose. If wisely done it is doubtful if
there is anything tliat is any better.
A considerable number of other gutta-percha preparations have been made
and sold, varying in the amount and character of the foreign substances in-
corporated with it and tiie consequent degree of hardness and the liiglier or
lower temperature required to render it plastic, and almost every manufacturer
of dental supplies sells a preparation of his own, besides which there has always
been a large use of the ordinary base-plate gutta-percha for temporary stop-
pings, setting crowns and bridges, etc.
"OxycJiloridc of Zinc'—This term was at first applied to the chemical
compound it indicates;; but has become almost the generic name of a certain
class of filling compounds wliich vary considerably in materials and composi-
tion. It had its (M-igin in an invention of M. Sorel for stucfo work * * *
(1856), consisting in a coating of oxide of zinc overlaid with a coating of
chloride of zinc." -
The inventor suggested its employment "to stop hollow teeth, for which
its plasticity and subse(|uent impenetrability to the moisture of the moutji
render it particularly applicable.'" This "Sorel cement" the first of the oxy-
chlorides, was used to some extent, but was supplanted by other nearly similar
combinations.
"The specific compounds have received many appellations, as osteoplasty,
crystal cement, diamond dentine, os-artificial, plastic bone, etc., according to
the fancy of the manufacturers."
Fillings of these materials have never been regarded as permanent, though
there have been instances of very unexpected durability. Before the intro-
duction of the oxyphosphate preparations the oxychloride of zinc, in some
form, had found a place in almost every operating case. Since then its use
has been pretty closely limited to the capping of pulps and the filling of root
canals, and even for these purposes by comparatively few practitioners.
Sometime in the seventies the oxychloride of zinc preparations began to be
superceded for most purposes by the oxyphosphates. The oxide of zinc in
these is similar, if not identical, to that used in the others, but is mixed with
glacial phosphoric acid instead of chloride of zinc. It is stronger and more
' History of Dental and Oral Science in America.
= Dental Cosmos, Vol. IV, p. 358.