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40 THE TREATMENT OF TEETH

used, the end of the strip may be attached to the
gold that is already in the cavity, without any
particular care being taken as to whether it is
packed flat or not. The point of the plugger is
then placed on a part of the projecting strip in such
a, manner that one, two, three, or more layers are
simultaneously packed down and condensed, the
gold being worked on the whole fairly flat. Irregular
masses of gold, such as pellets cut from a rope, or
little balls (if the latter should ever be used), will
not, as a rule, produce such hard and evenly con-
densed fillings as the flatter forms. This is shown
by these fillings often becoming pitted or roughened
by the force of mastication. This can be avoided
"by making the surface of tapes or squares.
Manipulation of Gold.—Decidedly the best cohesive
gold-work is accomplished by means of a mallet,
providing the cavity admits of a mallet plugger
being accurately used. Many cavities demand the
use of right-angle or curved pluggers, but the writer,
after trying four right-angle mallets, found none of
them satisfactory.
— particularly in countries where
Many operators
patients consider gold fillings an ornament to
their teeth — do not hesitate to cut away part or
the whole of labial walls in incisors and canines
in order to use a mallet. This is a proceeding that