NEW DENTAL PROCESS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 30, Issue 16, 26 February 1918, Page 4

NEW DENTAL PROCESS.

An entirely new method of treating decayed teeth is described in the ‘Dental Cosmos' by Dr. P. R. Howe, of Boston. This, which is the result of many experiments in the research laboratory of the Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children, consists in ejecting into the tooth a solution of nitrate of silver in water and ammonia, and following this with an injection of a 25 per cent, solution of formalin in water. The effect of these injections is to impregnate all the dscased tissues with metallic silver in a very finely divided state. The silver perfectly sterilises whatever it penetrates, and it docs not affect the healthy, live part of the tooth at all. When injected in the root canal it sterilises this, desensitises whatever may be left of the pulp, and, if it goes out through the apex of the tooth, makes the tissue so sterile that there is no danger of the formation of an abscess. Examination of teeth extracted after being thus treated shows that the silver has impregnated every part of the diseased tissue, turning it absolutely black. The new treatment is advocated especially for the preservation of six-year molars, the first permanent teeth to be cut and generally the first to go.