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204 CLASSIFICATION OF DECAYED CAVITIES.

cavity before the filling is practicable. This removal
of the free margin of the gum may be made either by

cutting away; or by pressing away with pledgets of
cotton or other appropriate substance placed in the
cavity and projecting from it, so as to make pressure
upon and absorption of, to a sufficient extent, the free
margin of the gum, which will usually be accomplished
in a day or two. The former method, however,
accomplishes the object at once : some good hemo-
static, as creosote and tannin, is all that is then

necessary to render the filling immediately practica-
ble. By means of this application the exudation
is checked—which, where there is much mucus eli-
minated, is an important item—and also such a
surface is given to the part that it will not so readily
conduct the saliva. It is, perhaps, preferable in
many cases to cut away this free margin, so that
it shall not be in contact with the filling after the
operation is completed.
After this preparation, the cavity is formed and
filled as usual. The napkins and paper, if these are
used, are to be placed in the precise position, and

carefully retained there. Two or three thicknesses
of paper should be laid on the gum up to the margin
of the cavity, and kept there during the process of
filling, so as to exclude all moisture. In filling cavi-
ties of the buccal portions of the denies sapientice,