Page 208 - My FlipBook

METHODS OF FILLING TEETH.
194
from the clot which has formed, and which, if suddenly torn away, will
start a new hemorrhage. The clot itself may be removed with a little
perseverance, using cotton twisted on a broach and dipped in warm
water. This softens it and cleanses the canal. One who has not
satisfied with
done this, resting simply removing the dressing, will be
astonished to see how many twists of cotton will be stained with blood
before one can be removed clean.
Again, we have a condition where there will persist a sensitiveness
at or near the This may be the best treatment,
apex. present, despite
on
for several days, any one of which the insertion of a root-filling
would bring the patient hurrying back to the office within a few hours
in This condition is somewhat mysterious, and the most
great pain.
plausible explanation is as follows : It is not likely that a pulp may be
destroyed with arsenic, and when removed leave a portion of the
extremity in place, and this be alive. Such a remnant, however,
may be left, which would then be connected with the tissues beyond.
Where arsenic has been used liberally, or where the patient is easily
affected by the drug, it is not difficult to understand that it may have
exerted an influence beyond the apex, so that the pericementum has
become irritated therefrom. Any pressure against this remnant of
whether or a column of
pulp, by instrument, filling-material, air,
would be conveyed to the tissues beyond the apex, which would
respond. Any attempt to fill immediately is an error. The canal
should be dressed lightly with an anodyne, and the cavity sealed up,
and left for a week or longer. This allows the irritation time to sub-
side, and then filling may be attempted with little danger. Never-
I deem it wiser to be on the safe side here, and have
theless, adopted
a method which I think is peculiarly my own, but which is neverthe-
less thoroughly satisfactory.
Take floss silk and wax it thoroughly, after which dip it into
chloro-percha and cut it into pieces about an inch long. These,
when dry, give us gutta-percha cones which have a silk through
them. They are readily packed into a canal, and the end being
allowed to extend beyond the orifice of the canal, is readily grasped, in
case of need, with a pair of tweezers, whereupon the whole root-filling
is easily withdrawn. Where no trouble ensues, the root- of this
filling
kind may safely be left in place, being quite dissimilar from cotton, as
the silk fiber is thoroughly incased in gutta-percha.
The next condition is where the pulp has died without the aid of a
with a The treat-
dentist, and the patient presents pericementitis.
ment is to abort the disease if possible, or in case this fails, hurry it on
to the suppurative stage. Where the pericementitis seems to subside
without suppurating, I prefer the silk-and-gutta-percha cones, because
of their removal.
easy