Page 147 - My FlipBook

ABRASION. 133

cisors really need to be filled. The only object is to save the teeth
from further abrasion, as decay is neither present nor likely to occur.
Where the incisors alone are involved, they should be filled. In such
a mouth it will be found that in the forward occlusion, as when biting
bread, the posterior teeth do not touch. This is a normal condition,
and if present, notwithstanding the fact that the incisors are abraded,
it will indicate that the anterior teeth have not yet been materially
shortened, so that to avoid further loss they themselves must be filled.
In a case which has advanced further, when the forward bite is
essayed,
the posterior teeth will usually be found in contact, though this is not
an invariable rule. This will show that the anterior teeth have been
considerably shortened. Under these circumstances it may not be
necessary to interfere in the incisive region at all, for as the teeth come
squarely together regardless of which bite is attempted, it follows that
if the posterior teeth be filled in their masticating surfaces further
abrasion may be retarded all around the arch. If this be true, it will
the front of the mouth
be unwise to disfigure by placing gold in the
incisive edges of the incisors.
FIG. 143. FIG. 144. FIG. 145.

of such a as must be made in a tooth
The preparation cavity
abraded as shown in Fig. 143 is as follows. With a corundum stone
lightly pass over the labial edge to make it smooth ; then dress down
the palatal edge rather freely, designing to restore it with a sufficiency
of to make a good resistant surface to the action of the oppos-
gold
ing teeth. With a rose bur cut a groove, being careful not to reach
the enamel in any part. With bur or drill form an extension or pit
at each end of the groove as shown by the dotted lines at a, a. In
start with of foil, and complete with gold and
filling, pellets gold
platinum, being extremely careful to thoroughly unite and condense
each piece.
When abrasion has been allowed to progress for years, we have
that condition which has probably originated the legend among cer-
had "double teeth all around." A
tain folk that their grandfathers
central incisor might present as shown in Fig. 144, the occluding
tooth now fitting it like a die, there being little if any concavity. When
a set of teeth thus destroyed, I deem it unwise to essay the
filling