Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-09-19
A PORCELAIN FILLING
One of the Dainty Operations In
Modern Dentistry.
THE WAY THE INLAY Is MADE,
Fashioned In Fragile Gold Leaf, the
Matrix Is Sunk by Vibration In Semi
fluid Asbestus and the Mold When
Set Filled With Porcelain.


fluid Asbestus and the Mold When
Set Filled With Porcelain.
This was an upper front tooth that
had once been nicely filed with gold,
but fresh decay having set in around
that filing it had become necessary to
fill the tooth again. This time, the
dentist said, he thought he would fill
it with porcelain.
All the processes of making a por-
celain inlay are interesting. Having
drilled the cavity in the tooth to its
required depth and shape, the dentist
next proceeds to make a matriX or
mold Of it in gold foil, which he is
enabled to do without breaking this
delicate material by the use of bit
of sponge between it and the crowd
ing tool. So he crowds the gold foil
down around within it everywhere to
fit into the cavity perfectly and gets
the depth all around the edge Of
the mold SO exactly that the inlay to
be made.in it when set into place will
not only fit perfectly in the cavity, but
fit into it with it's edges flush all
around with the surrounding surface
of the tooth.
The mold thus made of the cavity In
the tooth may look like the tiniest of
tiny gold cups or it may have some
irregular shape, according to the shape
of the cavity; but whatever its shape,
this mold of gold foil is so slight and
thin that q touch would crush it, and
it seems indeed as if a breath would
blow it away, as probably it would,
and you may wonder how a solid
piece of porcelain can ever be formed
in a mold so frail and delicate, but 1t
is all really very simple, as you will
see.
Now the dentist takes a small me-
.tallic holder about the size and shape
of a very small clam shell, which he
fills with powdered asbestus mixed
with water, and on top of this yield
ing material. handling it gently with
a pair of pliers, he sets the delicate
little gold mold, with it's closed end
down, resting so on the surface OF
the moistened powdered asbestus.
its edge, by which it can be lifted with
q pair of pliers made for the purpose
and serving thus as a handle for it.
Lifting the little saucer now by this
handle, the operator rubs on the han
die very gently, as one might draw
fiddle bow very gently back and forth
on the strings of q fiddle. A lead pen
|aEI Io &c, lya1 u
to use some professional tool with
chased or engraved handle, whose ir-
Irregularities will heighten the effect,
and, rubbing gently with this on the
handle of the holder, he communicates
to it and to it's contents and to the lit
tie gold mold on top continuous, gentle
vibrations, which, slight as they are,
still cause the mold gradually to settle
and imbed itself in the semffluid mass
In the holder, and this without in the
slightest changing its shape. These
vibrations are continued till the mold
has settled to the required depth, and
then the water is evapOrated from the
asbestus, and there you have the little
gold mold firmly imbedded in practi-
.cally solid material and ready for use.
The inlay will be made in the mold
from a porcelain powder. Porcelain
powders for dental use are made by
the manufacturers of dental supplies
in endless variety of shades, SO that
it is easily possible to get a powder
whose finished product will match any
tooth. The dentist has q great as
5sortment of teeth made from porcelain
powders, these all named or numbered,
and he matches up your tooth with
one of these and uses for the inlay the
powder of the corresponding number.
With the little gold mold all ready,
the operator now mixes a sufficient
quantity of the porcelain powder with
alcohol to give him the material in a
plastic form, while at the same time
the alcohol will eyaporate quickly. He
,wets also the asbestus in the mold
holder to keep that from absorbing the
alcohol in the porcelain powder.
And now with his porcelain in work
able form he fills the mold with it, to
make there the shape that is to be set
into the tooth, and then he proceeds to
fashion in the plastic material its out
ward part. This may be simply
Slightly rounded surface, for an inlay
that is to go into the fatter part Of a
tooth, or the inlay may include an
edge or corner Of a tooth, or both; but,
whatever the outward part may be,
the operator so molds and fashions it
that it will continue and complete nat
.urally the contour Of the tooth in
which the inlay is to be set.
With the modelling thus finished, the
inlay is ready for the final process, and
now, with the holder, mold and all,
it Is put into a tiny electric oven, out
of which after a suitable time it is
taken. baked into a solid bit Of porce-
Ian, the inlay completed.
1t is set in place with cement, and
so perfectly is porcelain inlaying now
done that except upon the closest in
spection it may be impossible TO tell in
an tnlaid tooth where the natural tooth
ends and where the inlay begins, a
nice operation In modern dentistry
Washington Post,