FILLINGS, FTC. The tilling of teeth is now Fometimes called (Maranon. Before the intro duction of gold. lead foil was used as the ma terial for filling teeth. Celsus (fix. 100) is sometimes referred to as the first to have advised lilting cavitic• in teeth; hut the only reference to the subie,1 in hi- works is his recommenda tion to Ana tr1111 1..a.1 decayed and frail teeth that are to he extracted, in order that they may not break tinder the forceps. TootIrrilling proper was. up to the beginning of the nineteenth 'ePlur.?• prnel nerd ten seldom. 'the "l'eraliun of 11111111 teed' U1/11 !P/N was mentioned by l'au ci ard in 17'45. For years gold was used 111 the twin of thin foil or rolled gold of the non Nari•ty. :sponge or gold was in troduced in 'sin, but was little used until its application 10 &Ill /II ina•po,cso teas I:Merited. :111:1 w, rkit-g quality impro‘ed by A..1. \Vatt, of tica, N. Y.. in Is:i:i. In Is55 Dr. .\rtliiir. of 1 vvoillinended the use of cohesive gold for tilling teeth, and this variety more ((-eel at present than any other. The use of mallet force in tilling teeth with 1%as tir•t recom mended by ILI', \Villiaill II. of Nets York. Platinum has been tried as a tilling nut hit was found to he UK/ ha alld to lute too little dttetility and plastieity to make it valuable for that purpose. It is sometimes used in combination with gold foil or rolled gold for a tilling exposed to stress. Si/rcr is not used alone for fillings, becatise of its ten (Miley to oxidize, and because of its stiffness and want of ductility. Tie, in the form of foil, ha, been 11`441 for tilling teeth since I7S3, and is still used for certain kinds of eavities. The tares of tin an- that it is soft, pliable, easily conilensed and adapted to cavity a poor of and, in case. of d j,j/it egra. lion. yields salts that seem to posse•s antiseptic properties. Yet its its almost com plete lack of enhesiveness, its property of becom ing discolored in the mouth, :Ind its disintegra tion tinder (-betide:II and mechanical also enlist hull. serious disadvantages.
()wing to the in properly nmniptt lasting the simple metals in tilling teeth. cliorts were early tirade toward discovering some ma terial of greater adaptability, and. as a result,
we have the plastic's su extoiNively used at the present day. The earliest of these materials were preparilt till 111111 .411111 or alcoholic solutions of mastie„ son la ray, datua•. or copal. Then fusible metals were employed, until, in IS'21i or thereabouts. Tavean. of Paris. intr•41iieed the use of .\ n is a combination of one or Inure inchils with memory. and that first tried was an amal gam of pure silver. The next amalgam to be used was one of The amalgams ti, mode at present usually consist of /1 lion of three or more metal, with Mercury. Snell ainglga MS, manipulated by improved modern no thuds, cot slit ale the only plastics that 11 ennsid•red permanent tilling The other plastics used it ',resent include: gotta p•r•lin nutrodu••d in 1.-;47-I5t 'Hill's stopping' la mixture of gotta perel a will' oxy of zinc (oxide of zinc, with a solution of vitt• chloride): zinc phosphate 1.0. ide of zinc, with a solution of phosphoric acid) : my phosphate of ithiniininn phosphate: oxv-solphate of zinc :hid other varieties of the cements. Knell of these ce meats ha. its definite uses and advantages, but all hate the disadvan of serving only a. temporary tilling•.
The filling of pulp canah? in teeth tins beli•y•d to Lav• 11(4'11 introduced 1%1* Nlaynard and Baker, of 'Washington, D. C. It has beet) shown, however. that this operation was prac ticed by Bonnier :mil rattehard, in Paris, as tar Niel; a. the middle of the eighteenth century; 411,1•01'111111 to 1;((ulrdel, hall heel/ practiced by others many years before, l'he copping (cov ering Ill ort of fl V111118 is said to hare Neon best recommended by lkoecker. The (billet nyinc, in 11, original form. tvas introduced by Dr. Nlorrison. of :saint Louis, in Is-tti: in its xarions iniprmed forms, it has become one of the most useful ut ItilglI appliam.es. The use of the ruidor data for the purpose of exeluding took. ton. from it ie. during the operation of tilling teeth was tirst stigg 4 II\ S. Ita•tmin. of New fork. and this innovation has been as great a boon to dentistry as the introduction of t hie bandage hats bcell to general surgery.