Page 140 - My FlipBook

I08 PRELIMINARY TECHNICAL PROCEDURES
2. Test the contacts and cleanse the inter-proximal spacest

with floss silk before application.
3. Remove with a thin spatula, chisel, or saw all jagged
edges of enamel before application.
4. Be sure no ligatures or fragments of rubber are left in
position after removal.

5. Flush with warm water and massage the gums after re-
moval of the dam, to restore the circulation.
All of these procedures are desirable to insure easy adapta-
tion of the rubber cloth and to prevent the tendency to
injury or infection of the soft tissues.
To assist in the application of the dam there are a number

of prominent sets of rubber-dam clamps, among which may be
mentioned the Ivory, S. S. White, Palmer, Huey, and Black
sets. For application over cervical cavities the Ivory, Keefe,
Dunn, Hatch and Woodward cervical clamps are valuable.

During the application of any of these clamps great care
should be exercised to avoid wounding the gums and peri-
cementum, damage to the enamel and production of pain
(Fig. 125).
For short operations on the teeth three general methods
may be utilized for the exclusion of saliva, viz. 'first, by means
of absorbent; second, by application of non-absorbents; and

third, by the combined use of absorbents and non-absorbents.
Among the absorbents may be mentioned cotton rolls, mouth
napkins, cottonoid, lintine, absorbent cotton, bibulous paper,

absorbent pledgets, and absorbent points (for drying canals).
A non-absorbent is a specially prepared cotton, usually made

in the form of rolls, used for occluding the salivary ducts and
damming back the saliva. It is generally used in combination
with absorbent rolls, a section of a non-absorbent roll being
placed over the mouth of the duct, when absorbent rolls are
placed over it and surrounding the tooth to be operated upon.