Morning journal and courier., 1882-03-28
A Dentists Troubles.
How Some SeIf-WIIIed Patients Behave
 Facts About Filings for Teeth.

How Some SeIf-wiIIed Patients Behave
 Facts About Filings for Teeth.
 'I want gold in my tooth; I won't have
 anything else"
 These imperative words, uttered in very
 petulant fashion, came from g young lady
 seated in dentists chair The dentist had
 been at!work grinding and drilling tooth
 cavity in her pretty mouth. and after tortur-
 ing her more or less, suggested that gold
 would not be the best material with which to
 restore the aiing tooth. The dentist hear
 ing her reply quoted above, and seeing that there was no way out of the difficulty, obey ed the young lady and filled the tooth with gold Mankind may be divided into three classes, from a dentists point of view" said the dentist to the writer when the young lady had gone. ''Those who will not have their teeth filled at all, bu4 have them pulled out when they ache; those who will have gold used and nothing else, and those who are willing when they go to 8 conscientious dentist, to follow his advice. This young 1 lady belongs to the second class. A man in ! my office few minutes ago wanted tooth extracted. He was unwilling to give the ! time that would have been necessary to have had the aching'member treated. He belong ! ed to the first class. Happily there are some people who belong to the third class. Gold l is very excellent material to use in certain cases, but it is not always the best. In fact 1 there are some dentists, very estimable and able men, who say that in proportion as & l tooth needs preserving gold is the worst ma- 1 terial to use as a filling. With such opinions, however, I do not agree. I name the face ! of their existence just to show you that I there is an opportunity for difference of views on the matter"
 The reporter asked what peculiarity there ! was in the tooth of the young lady who had { just left, which would have rendered some other filling than gold the most servicea- ble
 l sIn her case," was the reply, q should l have used gutta- percha, if I had had my own way. Gutta- -percha is an admirable filling material for some teeth. Tho only thing against 1t is that 1t wears away too rapidly, 1 if it is put on the grinding surface of tooth. In this case the grinding surface was not de- cayed, and gutta percha filling would have ! answered every purpose. As the cavity ex- tended some distance up the tooth, and near the margin of the gum, gold was certainly not the best thing to use. But what was l to do? If I had persisted and declined to fill the tooth with gold, the young lady would most assuredly have come to the conclusion that did not know the way to put in gold filling, and probably would have gone to some dentist who would not have hesitated mo- ment in inserting any material bis patient desired. A dentist in good practice has, of course, number of patients who are under his care for years, and repose every conf dence in him. As rule, such people rely on his judgment, and allow him to work as he deems best. This person, however, had never been to me before, and probably had not realized the fact that 8 professional man knows better what his patients need than they do themselves. Undoubtedly she fear ed that 8 gutta- -percha filling would look un- slightly So it would, if placed in a position where it could be seen, but this was not such
 position"
 ''No," said the dentist in answer to
 question put by the reporter, "the ideal fill
 ing for teeth has never yet been made. Gold
 is too good conductor of heat to be such.
 A hot or cold substance placed in the mouth
 will send it's heat or cold through gold fill
 ing in 8 very short time, and communicate
 the thermal change to the sensitive part of
 the tooth. Gutta- -percha, on the other hand,
 being bad conductor of heat, is free from
 this fault. There are variety of filings
 which are valuable, such as oxy-phosphates
 and oxy-chlorides, but these are subject to
 chemical changes from the acids of the
 mouth. Then amalgams are of use in cer
 tain cases, but they are unsightly and, too,
 are liable to shrink. With 8 variety to
 cheese from, we are obliged to take that
 which we regard as best suited to the parti-
 cular case before us. We can never do our
 best, however, when we hampered by
 the whims of capricious patient, who
 does not know what is good for herself or
 himself"