Page 254 - My FlipBook

238 THE TREATMENT OF TEETH
fully packed into a root-caDal, and it can be readily
removed. Mr. Mansell has a record of seventeen
or eighteen years' successful use of a paste of
iodoform and oil of cinnamon. He works the
paste into the canals with fine broaches, and then
packs down a tent of cotton-wool. The paste
penetrates the dentine, and renders it thoroughly
antiseptic. He does not find that this paste is
irritating if accidentally forced through the apex.
He recently informed the writer that he saw
no reason for exchanging it for any other
process at present introduced. The possibility, if
not the probability, of some of a paste root-iilling
going through the apex must be always considered,
and a paste that is as antiseptic as possible and
completely non-irritating should be chosen. The
writer intensely dislikes the odour of iodoform
in his operating room—there are several substi-
tutes for iodoform which have no disagreeable
odour, and many other kinds of pastes that
may be used. All that is needed is a penetrating,
non-irritating, and lasting antiseptic, or mixture of
antiseptics, that can be made into a paste with
some suitable medium for ease and certainty of
introduction, and stability.
A test of many of the most popular solid root-fill-
ings that are used proves that only the oxychloride