Now, here would have been an excellent opportunity for a porcelain tip, provided a man had the requisite skill to get sufficient anchorage for it without experiencing the same difficulty that I encountered in attempting to make a gold filling. I should like to ask Dr. Stoddard what his own experience has been with this class of teeth: if it is possible to adapt porcelain tips in such cases, and if so, how long they would be likely to remain. They are the most discouraging sort of teeth, I think, we have to deal with, but fortunately, cases as bad as the one just cited do not confront us very often.
Dr. Stoddard:—I should think that that was a case where it would be scarcely practicable to put in a porcelain filling, unless the tooth could be backed with platinum and the filling held that way, rather than by pins running into the tooth substance.
Dr. Allen:—Mr. President and gentlemen: I have had no practical experience with porcelain fillings, but I was much interested in the paper just read. While I was abroad last summer I met Mr. Dall, the gentleman referred to by Dr. Stoddard, and he showed me some very beautiful specimens of porcelain fillings in teeth which he had prepared out of the mouth. His method in dealing with proximate cavities in superior front teeth, where the lingual, proximal and labial edges are involved, is to build up the lingual, cervical, and half of the proximal walls with gold, leaving a cavity for the insertion of porcelain, which, when finished, is a great success from an artistic point of view, as it does away with the objectionable display of a large gold filling. Mr. Dall cuts his porcelain inlays from teeth manufactured by C. Ash & Sons.
Dr. Meriam:—Mr. President, the body referred to is Ash's Tube tooth body. Ash, I believe, has always refused to sell it in bulk. I know that a number of American gentlemen have wished to experiment with it. Either the Harwood or the Thompson blow-pipe will bake it; of course, it would be very easy to bake in the Stoddard furnace. I do not know that it has ever been imitated or reproduced in this country. Of course, we often hear of Dr. Herbst's glass fillings.
There is one question I would like to ask Dr. Stoddard, which he can answer after I have finished, and that is, how far his body corresponds with the body usually used for the porcelain teeth of the shops? Does it have to fuse at a lower heat, or is it substantially the same?
It seems to me that, going further than this, an effort should be made, before they are entirely lost, to preserve the old formulas that are in the hands of the older dentists. I believe that the most successful manufacturers to-day are manufacturing teeth from the formulas of these men, and if they are available they will be useful to add to our directory, that they may go on record. I think this is a very interesting study, and it is certainly carrying us back to the older days of dentistry in some ways.
Dr. Allen:—I have in my pocket a tooth which Mr. Dall prepared. He takes one of Ash's inlay teeth, cuts a groove in it and cuts them off in sections.
Dr. Stoddard:—In reply to Dr. Meriam's question, the body that we use is Dr. Daniel Harwood's, and is harder than the ordinary bodies. There has been some effort, I believe, to preserve the old formulas. Dr. Preston has presented his to the school, and Dr. Chandler has some which he is preserving.
Dr. Meriam:—I think, seeing this specimen that Dr. Allen has passed around, that some years ago in France a porcelain was made in the form of a pencil, so that the end could be ground and fitted to a cavity, and then cut off and polished. I also believe they use the long teeth used for continuous gum work.
Dr. Shepherd:—I noticed that some of the specimens, especially a tip for a central, were a little larger than necessary. I would like to ask Dr. Stoddard if the porcelain could be dressed down to give the proper contour to the filling.