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234 HISTORY OF DENTAL SURGEEY
FILLING INSTRUMENTS.!

"General regard to variations of form, size, piarpose or adaptation of filling
iustrnnients is a thing of comparatively modern growth. It was thought,
even fifty years ago"'" (this was written in 1876) "that almost any straight,
stiff tool was sufficient to the placing of any filling that it would reach, and
for those not accessible by such, a curve in the shank quickly made the in-
strument a proper one. It must be remembered that, at that period, almost
the only cavities filled were in the crowns (occlusal) or readily accessible
surfaces of teeth. Approximal decay was almost invariably removed by the
file, which, of course left no cavity behind it.
"It was believed th.at much force was necessary in order to properly con-
dense a filling, and the instruments were made correspondingly strong and
broad pointed. They were generally entirely without serrations, and with
large and strong handles."
All the gold in use at that time was non-cohesive (amalgam had not
yet appeared), and tin was inserted in the same manner, and vfith the same
instruments. Wedge-shaped points were used to introduce the filling, crowd-
ing it forcibly against all the walls of the cavity, each piece or fold projecting
somewhat outside the cavity and when no more could be wedged in the surface
was condensed with blunt pointed instruments, and the men of that time were
quite right in their belief "Ihat much force was necessary in order to properly
condense a filling."
"With the advent of 'sponge' or 'crystal' gold an impetus was given to
the invention of new forms of filling instruments. Dr. Dwinelle devised a set
for the particular manipulation of this form of gold.
"As the culmination of the idea of necessarily great force in introducing
fillings, 'plugging forceps' made their appearance. These were, at first,
simple and of limited variety; but they soon took on many forms, and were
very extensively used for a time. The most marked variation in them was the
swivel fulcrum and changeable points, introduced about 181:3.
"An illustration of the extent to which the 'force' idea was carried will be
found in the experiments of Dr. J. D. White, as late as 1850, with a 'dyna-
mometer' constructed for the purpose.- This gentleman found that the esti-
.niates of dentists in general as to the degree of force used l)y them in condens-
ing a filling were much too high. Some boasted tliat they often applied from
sixty to eighty pounds pressure on a filling. Dr. White corrected this esti-
' History of Dental ami Oral Sfienee in America.
• Dental News Letter, Vol. IX, p. 100.