Page 36 - My FlipBook

22 METHODS OF FILLING TEETH.
will be retained from above, and
interior so arranged that the filling
no the weak corner. A
laterally, dependence being placed upon
will possibly serve as a point of 'resistance
bevel at b, Fig. 39,
slight
such force as would have a tendency to crack the corner ; at
against
least it is preferable to a sharp angle. At the time of so filling a
tooth, it is as well to explain to the patient that the corner is weak,
and may be broken off in the future ; that you are obliged to choose
it off and future accident follow
between taking risking ; that you
the latter course to give her the benefit of the doubt and save her
from the disfigurement of a larger filling as long as possible ; and
that have so that if the mishap should
finally you arranged your filling
occur you can build on more gold, without removing what you have
just inserted.
By this course it is seen that nothing is lost, whereas, should the
fracture occur, the patient will even then be in no worse predicament
than that in which her dentist would place her by the intentional re-
moval of the corner; if the fracture should not supervene, she would
certainly be the gainer. It may be observed that I have alluded
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to the patient as she. This is because the force of my argument
when
is greater dealing with women, who do not wear moustaches,
and the marring of whose beauty means more than does that of a
man.
Thus it follows that in healthy teeth, whilst I recognize the element
of the of enamel, I have also noted the remarkable
cleavage strength
which may exist in an apparently weak spot, due to the support of
healthy underlying dentine, and the tenacity with which the two co-
here.
Where a pulp has been freshly devitalized, the tooth being other-
wise healthy, the fact that the root-canal offers such excellent oppor-
tunity for anchorage that it would be absolutely certain that future
damage could be repaired without removal of the initial filling, would
lead me to follow the same method.
my hands in which a pulp
Where a tooth comes into has been
long dead, the substance of the tooth discolored and evidently friable,
it then becomes a for consideration. In the
subject special diagram I
have shown the limit at which I should hesitate. Where the had
decay
proceeded farther so as to make the corner weaker than here shown,
I, probably, should remove the corner. To determine whether to do
so or not, place a dull instrument against the corner and exert pres-
sure. If cleavage occurs under such strain, the dentist need have
no doubt that he has followed a course. A few
proper gentle taps
with a mallet even be resorted to, and if a crack should
might appear,
the corner should be removed.
There is one other condition where it is not advisable but im-
only