Page 176 - My FlipBook

i6o THE TREATMENT OF TEETH
Gold and Cement.—It is a common practice to
protect a pulp by flooring a cavity with cement,
and then, when it is hard, to complete with gold.
With the exception of occlusal cavities in bicuspids
and molars, there is usually no room for this in live
teeth. In certain large occlusal cavities some oper-
ators partly fill with cement, and press pieces of
gold into it before it is set ; then, at the same
sitting, as soon as it is set, condense the projecting
pieces and utilise them as so many starting points
on to which to build. Care must be taken to
have sufficient depth of cavity to retain the gold
filling, otherwise it may come out. The writer
finds this procedure is more trouble than it is worth,
and would prefer to floor the cavity in the usual
way, and then insert the gold. Certain operators
spread thinly mixed cement over the interior
of a cavity, and at once insert the gold. If this
procedure could be easily and satisfactorily carried
out, the filling would be akin to a gold inlay, with
better margins, and would no doubt be well retained
in cavities that cannot be properly shaped for gold.
The writer has made a few of these fillings, but has
no confidence in his ability to produce good results.
In order to prevent the cement becoming mixed up
with the gold filling, a base and lining of gold may
be wedged to place, and the surplus cement will