Page 96 - My FlipBook

82 METHODS OF FILLING TEETH.
serve as well as one in this instance. Of course one must be ambi-
dextrous to do this, but all dentists should have the free use of both
hands. I do not hesitate to use my engine with my left hand as
as I would with children are ever to
quickly my right. Why taught
acquire the habit of depending upon one hand, thus partly losing
the use of the other, is one of the mischievous mysteries of civilization.
It is one of the follies of fashion. A dentist who cannot use the left
hand may acquire its use as I did, by practicing writing at all spare
moments. Do not write as one does with the right hand, but reverse
it ; that is, begin at the right-hand side of the paper and write toward
the left, or what we would call backward. This is because whenever
we use a muscle a certain impulse to the same end is sent to the
fellow of the opposite side, so that our long habit of writing with the
hand has, to a certain extent, educated the muscles of the other
right
hand to the same purpose. When we use the right hand we begin
on the left side and move toward the right ; therefore, to get the same
action from the muscles when we use the left, we must work from right
to left. In a short time one can learn to mallet with the right hand,
and manage the plugger with the left. This is more satisfactory than
depending on the assistant, who may or may not mallet to suit.
Of the power mallets, I prefer the Bonwill mechanical, as being
and more
easier to manipulate satisfactory in its working. Certainly
there are no batteries or motors to keep in order, or add to the
noise. The stroke is always under control, either as to speed or force
of blow. There is one thing worth mentioning in this connection.
When I first obtained a Bonwill mallet, I did so only on trial. I think
I was attracted to it because of its ingenuity rather than by any in-
herent merit which I expected to find in it. I was very much prejudiced
against such an instrument. All the argument which I have just used
about the connection between the patient and the mallet, I had power-
before mind. I tried
fully my it conscientiously, however, with the
result that by alternating between it and the hand-mallet I obtained
an expression of preference from my patients. I think fully ninety
per cent, chose the Bonwill. The others were of course those nervous,
or nerveless, individuals to whom noise becomes an irritant.
Pluggers to be used. This is a subject upon which a great deal of
discussion has been devoted, and I think largely wasted. The size
and shape of a plugger must depend largely upon a man's personal
preferences. Instruments with which one man operates beautifully
would be worthless to another. Of course, certain mechanical
princi-
can be cited, which will
ples theoretically prove that there is but one
form of point that best condenses gold, but in practice a broken instru-
ment is as good as any, in the hands of the skillful. Points that are ser-
rated, or round, or flat, or smooth, or thick, or thin, may either or all