Page 26 - My FlipBook

lo THE TREATMENT OF TEETH
where none of the teeth are carious, Avith the excep-
tion that if any one tooth responds to the test, it
must be drilled into through the sound structure.
Before drilling into a tooth that is externally sound,
great care must be taken ; and if any doubt exists it
is better for the patient to wait to see if the pain
will finally locate itself in one particular tooth,
or symptoms develop which enable a more accurate
diagnosis to be made. If an apparently sound tooth
is less translucent, or darker in colour than its
fellows, it will generally be found to contain a dead
pulp, and it may be opened into in these cases with-
out any hesitation.
The electric mouth mirror will be of assistance in
some of these cases. The room should be darkened
and the light placed behind the teeth. A want
of translucency, which is not apparent in daylight,
may then be discovered.
Severe toothache, which is often of the referred
or reflected kind, is frequently caused by the diffi-
cult eruption of a wisdom tooth, particularly a lower
wisdom. This possible factor must always be con-
sidered. The treatment is to cut away the gum
over the erupting tooth, and cauterise the edges
with nitrate of silver. If this does not relieve the
pain, the wisdom tooth must be extracted. And if
this is an uncertain or risky operation, the tooth