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CHAPTER VI.
FILLING TEETH.
The operation of filling teeth is an interesting and
important one, requiring for its successful accomplish-
ment peculiar talent and large experience. It is the
only means as yet ascertained of completely effecting
the object for which it is employed, namely, arrest of
decay and preservation of the organs. Therapeutic
agents avail but little here, so low is the organization,
and so feeble the vital power. Nature, so efficient in
more highly organized structures, does comparatively
but little, in disease of the teeth, toward arrest or
restoration. Yet, on the other hand, these organs
are less liable to decomposition by the action of
foreign substances ; indeed, the enamel is almost
invulnerable to any agents to which it is ordinarily
exposed. The dentine, however, is more easily acted
upon, and, when there is defect in the enamel, is very
liable to injury.
Scarcely an individual in our country arrives at
mature age with a perfect set of teeth ; indeed, nine-
tenths of our people have decayed teeth at an early
period of life. Hence, for beautifying, preserving,
