Page 288 - My FlipBook

arate the teeth sufficiently and change the form by grinding,
so as to prevent the lodgment. But the better way when the
teeth are sound is to cut a proximate cavity in one of the

teeth, and, after securing sufficient separation, build a filling
with a rounded contact point of sufficient prominence to open
the embrasures sufficiently to prevent lodgments and restore
the health of the parts. Many teeth are lost to persons im-
mune to caries from the flattening of the contact points and
disease of the peridental membranes, which follow, as a result
of the crowding of the food upon the gum septum.
Fillings that have been well made have their contacts
worn flat by years of use and stringy foods begin to be held
and forced upon the gum septum. This causes pain and
inconvenience and renders the parts liable to disease. In
these cases the form of the contact should be restored.
This may be done by removing the filling and making a
new one. Or, if the filling is large, by cutting a slot in it
and building a new contact point. Often this may be ac-
complished as well by the easier method of cutting a smaller
slot in the filling and laying in that a piece of gold-plati-
num, or iridio-platinum wire just long enough to abut
against the next tooth and form a contact point and secure
this in position by packing gold over it. I have made con-
siderable use of this latter method in practice and have made
use of it in my own mouth with the most gratifying results.

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