Page 115 - My FlipBook

FILLING TEETH 99

and fill it up by introducing pellets—if the hole is
fairly large—with lateral force until a sufiiciently
small hole is left to be tilled with direct pressure.
Continue to make holes in the plug, and fill them
up, until the sharp-pointed plugger will make no
impression on the surface at any part. Then
firmly burnish the surface of the gold, and grind it
down to a smooth surface with fine edges. A^'ain
burnish thoroughl}^ and either leave the filling
burnished, or finally perfect it with Avooden or
leather Avheels or buffs and a suitable powder, such
as fine pumiee-stone or Hindostan stone. Cylinders
are used exactly like pellets, and strips are folded
and pressed flat against the walls, layer by layer,
in such a manner that one end of each fold touches
the floor, and the other one extends slightly beyond
the orifice. Theoretically the cylinder or the strip
produces the best filling, because the layers of gold
are exactly parallel to the side walls, and as the
wear of mastication comes on the ends of the layers
of gold, there is little chance of their flaking off.
In practice it will be found that pellets cut from a
rope of gold serve their purpose extremely well, and
the layers are sufficientl}" parallel for practical pur-
poses ; and even the irregular distribution of the
gold, produced by tearing pieces from a sheet and
rolling them up into balls, can be to a great extent