Page 81 - My FlipBook

GOLD AS A FILLING-MATERIAL.
67
moved to and fro within the Whenever this occurs, with
cavity. any
kind ofgold, the only correct procedure is to remove the whole and begin
To to hold it in
again. attempt place, until wedged by what is placed
above it, is to deceive one's self and defraud the The mass
patient.
may be thus fastened so that it will not move, but the space between
it and the walls, which must have existed since motion was
possible,
will not have been eradicated. I cannot use language too positive in
recommending small pieces of this or any other kind of gold. /
never place any bit ofgold within a cavity which cannot pass the orifice
without touching the edges. I frequently use pieces even smaller than
would be thus indicated. The rule is as binding with a plastic gold
as with any other.
Another method of manipulation which I think is a grave error is
to use a foot-plugger with crystal gold. A foot-plugger has a distinct
usefulness, but it is an instrument which produces many poor fillings,
simply because used in wrong places. I use small points for all kinds
of gold, and equally so for crystal. Suppose that a mass of crystal
be the within the
gold placed against filling cavity, just as the gingival
margin is to be covered. I should condense it with small points, thus
uniting it perfectly with the gold already placed, and gradually ap-
proaching the borders. Then I should exchange for a foot-plugger,
and go over the surface, flattening out hills, and especially perfecting
the impaction against the border, finally chiseling off with this same
plugger all the excess which projected beyond and over the edge. To
sum I should
up, then, depend upon crystal gold mainly for covering
the walls of cavities, and for such other places as I have indicated. I
should not use it much for contour work, or allow it to reach broad
masticating surfaces. Care should be used to see that it is not partly
condensed before it is inserted in the cavity. It should therefore never
be held in the A good method is to make a gold wire
fingers. loop,
or staple, and with this pin the cake of gold to the wooden box in
which it is sold. Small bits maybe torn off with the foil-carrier as
needed, without danger of compressing the mass.
Passing now to foil, I have to consider briefly the various forms
in which it is supplied. In the first place, there is the condition
of the surface. We find this either bright as though burnished, or
rough, appearing as if "frosted." This style of gold has various
names, depending upon the maker. I do not remember any special
advantage that has been claimed for it, and it is probably manufac-
tured to supply a demand created by a habit, rather than by reason.
On the contrary, my own experience with it would condemn it. It
is less cohesive than the plain, and this is seen to be natural upon
a moment's consideration. The adherence of one thing to another
may be produced at any time by effecting absolute contact. Glass,