Page 54 - My FlipBook

o METHODS OF FILLING TEETH.
4
none, or rather none that is discernible to the eye. Therefore , as he can
find no leak, he is satisfied that there is none. To be quite sure,
he uses the warm-air
however, the cavity now being ready, syringe,
and proceeds with his filling, placing a handsome piece of work, beauti-
In a of he finds this with decay about
fully polished. couple years
the gingival border, and perhaps writes a learned essay upon the
at this
instability of fillings point.
Now, what are the facts ? When the dam was first placed and the
parts dried, all seemed well. As soon as the engine was used, moist-
ure appeared, recurring a second time. Lastly, the spunk and hot air
made all dry once more, and the eye, watching, could detect no
moisture. Therefore the mind reasoned, "No leak." Nevertheless
there was a leak, or else how did moisture twice recur? The nature
of this leakage will be explained in a moment, but just here I must
elucidate this enigma and show its relation to the subsequent failure
' '
; otherwise it will be said,
of the filling A leak which did not interfere
with the operation of filling was of no consequence."
When the dam was first placed and the parts dried, all moisture
seemed to have been excluded. This simply meant that the dam was
effectual as as the were in a state of rest. Then the
long parts engine-
bur was used, and moisture appeared. This is accounted for by the
statement that whenever a are into the
patient is hurt, fluids discharged
mouth, whether by nervous or by muscular action is immaterial. The
fact is the important thing, and it is a fact. Thus after the use of the
hot-air blast, the parts being at rest, all seeming dry the operator
proceeded. In doing so he made pressure upon the tooth, which
caused a further of moisture. The
pain, thereby inducing ingress
pain of packing the gold being less than that of using the bur, the
fluid accumulates more Thus it does not interfere with the
slowly.
placing of gold along the extent of the border. About this time,
however, moisture, unseen, slowly dampens the gold at this point, so
that a tiny pellet would not cohere. But the operator is not using
tiny pellets, but pieces of some size, which he first attaches to the unwet
gold within the cavity, and then mallets down over the border. Thus
it may happen that each piece of gold coheres along a portion of its
extent, so keeping its place, while there is no cohesion whatever along
the gingival border. Such a filling maybe polished and burnished so
as to present a fine appearance, but there is a weak spot, and it is
along the gingival border, where the leak allowed a slight percolation
of moisture.
I must now explain the existence of a leak which is undiscernible by
the eye, and yet allows the entrance of moisture. It most often occurs
because of the fact that the hole punched for the passage of the tooth
is made too In a wet mouth, over a
large. very if the dam is slipped