Page 63 - My FlipBook

FILLING TEETH 47

experiments are far too limited, and as a dentist
is not a machine that works always with mathe-
matical accuracy, it has been pointed out that a
very great amount of Avork is necessary in order to
arrive at completely accurate conclusions.
They point out, however, as well as do some other
experiments that the writer has not thought neces-
sary to allude to, that certain forms of gold are more
favourable than others, that a fine-pointed plugger
is in itself better than a larger one, and that unan-
nealed gold (providing it can be made to stick)
produces in itself superior adaptation and density
whenever the mallet force necessary to obtain a high
degree of excellency with fully annealed gold cannot
be employed. It has been mentioned, however, that
density and hardness of a filling are not synony-
mous terms, and this also applies to cohesion. There
is every advantage in using unannealed or lightly
annealed gold against the walls of cavities, particu-
larly if hand pressure is used, but the writer con-
siders that the bulk of a hand-pressure filling that
is made by the cohesive method should usually be
made of fully annealed gold.
There is also no doubt that the specific gravities
above mentioned can be considerably increased if a
favourable form of gold is thoroughly well con-
densed with a fine point and great mallet force. It