Page 18 - My FlipBook

try to rub it up afterward it will all crumble up and is not fit
to use in that condition. I wouldn't like to undertake to
make a filling with that (demonstrating). I have broken this
up now purposely to show you that you may, after it has
begun to set, break it up and have the amalgam in a condition
that is unfit for packing, even if you have mixed it properly
at first. You should pack it at the right time ; after you have
wrung it out pack it at once. It is necessary that amalgam
fillings be made quickly in order to get the best results. Do

not have your instruments scattered; do not have to dry out
your cavity ; have your rubber dam and matrix in place, the
patient in position and everything ready before you begin to
mix the alloy, and have your instruments laid just where you
will know where to take hold of them. All of this care is
necessary to make good amalgam fillings. If you will follow
these plans you will find your amalgam works nicely and
smoothly, and as you become skillful in the manipulation you
will find that you do it easily, and if you use sufficient force
and be careful as to your margins, you will find that you get
perfect margins.
There is a reason for what I may call the general care-
IfCssness of the profession in making amalgam fillings, which
I may mention now. And that reason is simply this : That
heretofore, no matter how much care men might take in mak-
ing amalgam fillings, getting perfect forms, and getting a
perfect polish and perfect margins, they would find in a few
months that the margins were imperfect, and all of this care
bestowed upon making good margins, making a nice polish,
etc., seemed to be of no avail ; a filling slopped in seemed to
be nearly as good as those with which great care has been
taken. Now the reason for this was simply that the amalgam
they were using would swell, and shrink, and move, and con-
sequently their margins became bad, no matter if they were
made very perfect at first. With the amalgam you are using
this will not be the case. If you make your margins good
and close and perfect to begin with, they will remain so, and
if you have made the proper outline to your cavity you may
expect these amalgam fillings to stand as you leave them ; I
wouldn't say equal with gold fillings ; I don't know that that
is the case, but very nearly, so that you will be rewarded for
the care that you take in making these fillings. I have had