Page 255 - My FlipBook

EXPOSED PULPS. 251

sarily imply an impossibility of restoring it from
disease. The pulp of the tooth is endowed with
such functions as ordinarily render living tissue sus-
ceptible of treatment for abnormal conditions; as
circulation, nutrition, absorption, and a distribution
of nerves. The success attending the methods of
treating exposed pulps, practiced by the dental pro-
fession during the last few years, is a source of more

encouragement than a thousand theories.
Treatment of Exposed Palps.—In cases where the
conditions are favorable,—the constitution good, the
pulp but recently exposed at a small orifice, and in a
healthy condition, treatment may be instituted with
considerable certainty of success. If there is no
inflammation or irritation, therapeutic treatment is
not indicated ; but the decay should be removed and

the cavity formed without wounding the pulp, if
though a slight wound of no serious
possible ; is
consequence; for immediately after the hemorrhage
ceases, the operation may proceed as though the pulp
were intact. There have been suggested various
methods for protecting the pulp in cases of this kind :
formerly, the capping of pulps was very extensively
practiced; by which a shield was thrown over the
exposed point, so as to prevent the filling from coming

in contact with it. Various materials have been
suggested and used for caps ; but gold and load have