Page 254 - My FlipBook

erably crowded. The cuspid tooth is also smaller than the ; —
tooth which wull replace it. Now, these two molar teeth
are larger and take up more room in the arch sO' that they
come to be crowded together instead of being spread apart,
as is' the case with the deciduous incisors, and if we cut their
proximate surfaces they fall together very quickly, usually
consequently we are in a measure debarred from that method
of handiling proximate cavities in the molar teeth, and yet
not entirely, for if we can treat these cavities when they
are small we may cut them out without separating the teeth
so far as to be in trouble from their dropping together.
Generally we will find these decays beginning pretty close
to the occlusal portioin of the surface, or near the marginal
ridge, and the form of the crown is such that if we slope
the cut well to> the linguo^gingival, i. e., slope our cutting
toward the gingival oin the lingual, we may cut away con-
siderably without entirely destroying the contact of these
teeth, or, if we destroy the contact, leave enough of enamel
upom the proximate surface, toward the buccal, so that it
will come against the enamel of tihe next tooth, making a
new oo'Utact that will be good and sufficient. I think }-ou
will understand what I mean by my words, but suppose we
have this as representing a proximate surface of one of
these teeth (making drawing on board), and decay has oc-
curred here in the bucco-hngual center of the occlusal third
oi the mesial surface, and, this being the buccal surface, we
may make a cut through in this way, sloping Hnguo-gin-
givaUy, and leave this portion at the buccal of the surface
to make a new co^ntact; the original contact was in here
near the bucco-lingual center. They will not drop together
sufficiently to let the cut surface make a contact. The dan-
ger in cutting away the proximate surfaces of the teeth is
that the flat cut surfaces are liable to come together and
make a flat contact that holds food and debris that will
cause decay very certainly, but if we can get a cut some-
thing as Dr. Arthur used to recommend for the permanenit
teeth (which, by the way, has gone entirely out of use now
because they would drop together and make flat contacts)
we can hold those teeth in that position and keep the sur-
faces in a shape that will be self-cleaning. Now, this cut
that I have made here— if we look at it from the lingual

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