Page 81 - My FlipBook

FILLING TEETH 65

mallet. The lead mallet seems to demand a little
longer use before the feeling of perfect condensation
is arrived at. The sharp blow of the steel mallet is,
however, more disagreeable to a patient than the
dull, dead blow of the lead mallet.
These mallets are also made of brass, tin, and
composition metals. These, however, are either
akin to the steel, or the lead mallet, depending on
the kind of metal used, and there does not seem to
be any particular advantage in attempting a com-
promise between the sharp blow of the steel, and the
dull blow of the lead mallet. The improved automatie
mallets (of which the old Shaw and Lewis mallet is
the progenitor) are very efficient instruments, and
their convenience and little liability to get out of
order make them very popular.
Certain dentists have found that the automatic
mallet is disagreeable to patients, because there is a
distinct interval between the placing of the plugger
on the gold, and the delivery of the blow. It must
not be forCTotten that there are several makes of
automatic mallets which vary somewhat in their
construction and working properties. Any appre-
ciable interval or hiatus between placing the plugger
on the gold and delivering the blow, is due either to
using an automatic mallet that is not of the best
construction, or to screwing it up to a very heavy