Page 156 - My FlipBook

METHODS OF FILLING TEETH.
142
completely with a thin layer of gold. This is an important point,
and that I may be better understood I will resort to a diagram. Fig.
1 60 shows the tooth in section, filled to a level with the labial wall b
(supposing that we are dealing with Fig. 159). It is plain that up to
this it has been to the direction of the and
point easy keep plugger
mallet-blow perpendicular to the long axis of the tooth, or in line with
the length of the root. By this method the blow receives the greatest
resistance, so that the gold is most solidly packed, while the patient
reports the least pain. Were we to proceed thus to the end, it would
be found that we would be constantly called upon to pay special atten-
tion along the standing wall, as for example at the point indicated by
a in the We should be to at
diagram. compelled place every piece
that point, first building from there outward, or else risk imperfect
packing at this point. In this way we would lose the horizontal plane,
the surface of the filling soon becoming oblique. Thus throughout
the rest of the operation the mallet-stroke would not be perpendicular
to the root. I advise the wall as shown in the
immediately covering
diagram at c. To do this of course necessitates either hand-pressure,
or the mallet at an Even the latter, which is
oblique angle. preferable,
would cause little pain, because the wall would be sufficiently covered
with a few pieces of gold. With the cavity filled up to the point
shown in the the be carried on with com-
diagram, completion may
because the tooth- substance all covered we
parative rapidity, being
have no further anxiety in that direction, but may devote our attention
exclusively to shaping the contour. From this point use heavy foil,
No. 30, or possibly 60, cut in square pieces, and pack from the cusp
b toward the a. Allow each to the cusp b, and
point piece overlap
in this manner the labial portion will grow sufficiently outward, so
that surface will not be when the contour is formed.
packing required
This is a most important point, for we must have the labial surface
dense so that we it a it is undesirable to be
may give high polish, yet
compelled to pack gold on that part of the filling at the end of the
operation, because the force of the blow would be at right angles
to the tooth, which by this time may have become so tender that
this would be exceedingly painful. It can be readily avoided if the
caution to build over the edge with every piece be heeded.
There may be some who will argue that I am in error when I state
that no or undercut should be made the
special retaining-point along
Yet if so, what are we to do where both are
remaining cusp. cusps
lost, as in Fig. 161? In such a case the same method which I
described in connection with Fig. 159 may be followed. Here, how-
ever, we do not make the groove a horse-shoe, but complete the
circle, for we have no standing wall in danger of being undermined.
Fig. 161 shows the cavity prepared for filling, the groove being seen