Page 293 - My FlipBook

they may prove exceedingly difficult to treat. The whole
mouth is often in a condition of hy^^eresthesia ; everything
'we do for them hurts and we must treat them as we would
treat children in what we do, but otherwise as adults. Often
we must gain their confidence by selecting the least painful
operations in the beginning, and then, as rapidly as possible,
remove the hindrances to mastication and train them into the
vigorous use of their teeth. It is often well to use temporary
fillings in those cases requiring long, tedious packing of gold
until chewing has become effective and the membranes strong
'and firm. Then the necessary malleting to make a good fill-
ing can be borne without difficulty.
//, i)i any such cases, there are pulp exposures that are
preventing the patient from chezving food these must be elimi-
inated by the appropriate treatment as a first procedure when-
ever practicable. That which is most often overlooked by op-
erators is bad contacts or open cavities, which allows food
to so impinge upon the gums as to continue to cause pain.
Whenever many such places are present they should be
treated with temporary fillings in such a way as to substan-
tially remove the difficulty without waiting for the more te-
dious permanent operations. The recovery of the health of
the gums, and particularly of the gum septums, should always
be especially looked to in the making of temporary fillings,
and these must be so made as to promote this. Much too
often gutta-percha is forced upon the gums in such a way
as to cause absorption of the septum and do permanent in-
jury. This should, by all means, be guarded against with
jealous care, for when it occurs the interproximate space will
be continuously unclean, except as it is cleaned artificially,
and become a continuous menace to the health of the parts.
The manner of doing this has been given. (Tech. Pro.,
I35-)
P-

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