Page 210 - My FlipBook

proximate fillings the tendency to lodgment in the interproxi-
mate space is removed ; this affords a protection to the im-
mediate parts and to the adjacent parts, to the neighboring
gum tissue, and the filling becomes prophylactic in a very much
wider sense than the local curative effect, because it not only
protects the immediate surface liable to decay, but it pro-
tects the surrounding parts as well. It is also prophylactic
in a still broader sense, in that it gives the natural use of
the tooth; a tooth that was sensitive, a tooth that the patient
would avoid chewing upon, is brought again into full use,
and that full use tends to the health of the part, and the
whole side of the mouth. Patients often, on account of one
sensitive cavity, will avoid the use of that side of the mouth,
chewing entirely upon the other side, and then disease is likely
to run riot upon the disused side. In this way a single
filling, by allowing full usage of the teeth, may) serve to pro-
tect and guard the whole side of the mouth against future
decay and against disease of the gums. In this sense the
prophylactic effect of the filling is wide and important. It is
also important in a broader sense again than this, for by giv-
ing the full use of the apparatus of mastication, it contributes
to the general health of the person ; the food is more per-
fectly masticated, placed in a better condition for digestion,
and the whole physical man is benefited by the operation.
What should be considered a permanent filling? What

do we mean by permanent? This question might be answered
in various ways. I think we will find many dentists who
would regard a filling as permanent if it afforded a reason-
able protection for eight or ten years, or four or five years.
This would hardly be my idea of a permanent filling. There
may be different degrees of permanence. Under some con-
ditions I should regard a filling that protected even for two
or three years as doing good service under the circumstances,
particularly in making fillings for children, where the condi-
tions under which the operation is performed are very bad.
The child movement, to say nothing of the difficulties of self-
control in the child, is such that it is difficult to operate, and
we sometimes find what I would term, child movement in
those who are nO' longer children, a condition of the nervous
system in which there is continual movement of the person,
which becomes so annoying that it is almost impossible to

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