Causes of irregularity of the permanent teeth : their mechanical treatment considered / by James Robinson.

  • Robinson, James, 1813-1862.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Causes of irregularity of the permanent teeth : their mechanical treatment considered / by James Robinson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the simple extraction of a few teeth at an earlier period, generally speaking, would have prevented. There is, perhaps, scarcely a branch in the practical part of our profession in which there exists such a diversity of opinion as on the kind of mechanical means, and the time when they should be employed, in the treatment of the irregularities of the second dentition; not only are there innumerable me- chanical contrivances constantly made use of, which in many instances are erroneous in principle, and consequently do harm instead of good ; but the time at which these mechanical means are to be employed with advantage is by no means a settled question amongst dental practitioners: the subject is one of the greatest importance, not only as regards the comfort and per- sonal appearance of the patient, but of his possession of a free and perfect enunciation ; it therefore claims the particular attention of the student. Numerous works and papers have been written on the proper treatment of irregularities of the teeth, and most of the authors, though diflfering from their brethren in everything else, lay down the principle that no alteration m the position of the teeth can be effected after the age of from fourteen to fifteen, I was long since impressed with the opinion that irregulari- ties of the second denture were susceptible of great improve- ment, if not of a complete cure, at a much later period, con- trary to the dicta of old and popular authors. These opinions have been subsequently confirmed by myself and others in the successful treatment of many cases where the patients had attained from twenty-five to thirty years of age; but in all cases where the student is called upon to correct irregularities of the second teeth by mechanical means, and he has the patient immediately under his charge, it is better to commence his mechanical operations when the child is about eight or ten years of age; of course even this period is dependent in a great measure upon the development of the adjoining teeth—the canines in particular ; if the case be left until the patient has