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CHAPTER II

INSTRUMENTS AND APPLIANCES

The present chapter is devoted to a discussion of the

various instruments used in operative dentistry. It is highly
important that a thorough knowledge of the instruments and
appliances, his armamentarium, be acquired by the reader, if
the correct performance of the various operative procedures
is to be accomplished.

He should be informed as to their nature, methods of
manufacture, care and use, if he desires to do the best type of
work. Good work cannot be accomplished with an inade-
quate equipment, or with dull instruments. Many cutting
instruments, even when new, require sharpening before use,

and all demand repeated sharpening at frequent intervals,
in order that pain may be avoided and the work which they
are intended to perform be expeditiously and easily accom-
plished.
All instruments should, after use, be properly cleansed and

sterilized and then arranged in an orderly manner in the op-
erating case. A definite place should be assigned each one,
in order that it may be readily found when needed.
The following is intended only as a brief review of the
working properties of steel. A fuller description may be

found in works on metallurgy.

STEEL

Definition.—An alloy capable of being hardened, softened
and tempered, made by the addition of a small percentage of
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