Page 264 - My FlipBook

260 EXPOSED PULPS.

orifice of exposure is closed up, has. already been re-
ferred to ; and it has been suggested that treatment
to facilitate this process may be instituted. With a

view to this, temporary fillings are sometimes intro-
duced ; and irritation of the pulp by frequent slight
friction, has been adopted ; but the success attending
this treatment is not very manifest, indeed not definite
enough to warrant adoption. If a shield of secondary
dentine is desirable before permanent filling, the best
method of securing it, is, after seeing that the general
recuperative power is in the best condition, to place
in the cavity a temporary filling, of such material and

in such manner as shall be least offensive to the pulp,
—perhaps there is nothing better than Hill's stop-
ping,—and then leave nature to accomplish the work.
In many cases, especially in young persons, this
process would be facilitated by an administration of
bone phosphate. The pulps of the teeth of the young
are more difficult to treat successfully than those of
the more advanced in life.
Destruction of the Pulp.—There are cases in which
an attempt to restore the pulp, even when recently
and but slightly diseased, would prove unavailing;
so feeble is the vitality that it is destroyed at almost
the first touch. Two cases in apparently the same

condition pathologically, but in different constitu-
tions, will, under the same treatment, exhibit very