The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-28
NEW IDEAS IN DENTISTRY.
Dentists Who Have Queer Appliances
for Saving Human Molars.
From the New York World

The talk of the convention of dental
surgeons, held in Washington last week,
gave a notion of the revolution in dent
isUry that has taken place within the past
few years. Merely with respect to what
electricity has accomplished in that
branch of medical science, there is a good
deal to be said.
BY the use of an electric light in con-
nection with the little mirror introduced
into the mouth, the teeth and alveolar
processes are brilliantly illuminated and
rendered translucent. Thus anything
wrong about the teeth may be quickly
discovered. For example, dead tooth-pulp
shows black and Opaque Perhaps the
dead tooth may be hidden in the Jaw
never having been erupted, and may have
been the obscure cause of trouble for
years. The light reveals it at once.
Facial neuralgia. by the way, is nearly
always due to dead tooth, and may be
STOP ed by good dentist.
Electricity is most valuable as a motive
power for tooth-boring tools, which,
strange to say, cause less pain the faster
they go. Most people now grown up can
re- all the eXcruciating pain caused by
the eXcavating instrument which the
dentist of a generation ago slowly re-
volved between his fingers. The ''burrs"
now made for such work are much finer
than they were half dozen years ago,
being capable of cutting through steel
bars.
Furthermore the 1aborious method of
turning them out by hand has been super
seized by a machine which produces
them at a cost of 10 cents apiece The
machiue-made burrs are much more per-
feet, those less in size than a pin head
being too small for observation with the
naked eye. but exhibiting under a mag
nifying glass the forms Of most exquisite
cutting tools
Electricity is employed also for pulling
teeth. The mechanism consists of two
cell battery with vibrator attachment
the latter thin strip Of metal. fastened
at both ends and made to vibrate 1000 or
more times a second by current At
each vibration the current is cut and re-
newed again, the effect being to give a
steady flow of the fluid. To make sure
that the flow is satisfactory, the opera
tor tunes the machine with little reed
tuning-pipe until the strip of metal sings
"a"
To the battery are attached three
wires. Two of them have handles at the
end, while the third is attached to the
forceps. The patient grasps the handles,
the electricity is turned on suddenly, and
the dentist simultaneously applys his for
ceps 10 the tooth. The instant the tooth
is touched, III, as well as the surrounding
parts, becomes insensible to pain. A
jerk and it is out.
One dentist at the convention remarked
that there is not one tooth lost now where
there used TO be 100. The day of reck
less tooth-pulling has passed. 1t is a
mighty poor tooth that the skilled opera
tor of to-day cannot render far better
and more serviceable than the best posi-
BILE false one. If only the root is left, a
new upper part Of porcelain or gold.
called crown" is fastened upon it so
as to be quite serviceable.
Surprising that not even the root is
left gap in the mouth is filled in with
one or more dummies" securely fas-
tened by gold bridge" or otherwise TO
the sound teeth. Complete set Of false
teeth are rare nowadays. On the other
hand. people in palpably toothless con-
diJion are almost never seen. The de-
mand for th-crowns' comes largely
from base ball players, football athletes