Page 212 - My FlipBook

196 THE TREATMENT OF TEETH
that, owing to their original minuteness, escaped
notice when the main or original filling was inserted.
The margins of this cavity, when prepared for the
filling, were clean and showed no defects, and yet, if
this patient had not come up for regular inspection,
a failure of the filling would have been attributed
to imperfect work, or incompatibility of the material
with tooth-structure. The same thing would have
happened if the tooth had been filled with an inlay,
or with any other material. The possibility of
similar occurrences has been brought before the
profession by Dr. Leon Williams, His microscopical
examinations show that there is always a possibility
of the beginnings of decay, and sometimes a con-
siderable amount of penetration existing that is
not apparent to the naked eye of the most careful
operator. Inlay work, however, demands the most
careful preparation of margins that it is possible to
make, and, in the great majority of cases, nothing
but a collection of food deposits in a marginal
trench produced by wasting away of the cement

is likely to produce failure through decay. It
is therefore a question of experience whether a
sufficient wasting away of the cement takes place to
cause recurrence of decay in a thoroughly well-
fitted inlay. The experienced experts say that a
superficial wasting occurs, but that afterwards the
i