Dental Practice Author:John Gray Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: teeth shut outside of the corresponding lower ones, and nature will generally do all the rest. But if the front teeth do not all close properly, no time should b... more »e lost in procuring professional aid, or the upper and lower teeth will soon destroy each other. Persons requiring the assistance which science alone can render will do well, as I have already observed, to consult not the Court Guide, but the College List of Surgeons (generally in the possession of every surgeon) where they will discover what dentists are really surgeons. Management Of The Teeth. Use a soft brush, and when necessary, thin the middle of it with scissors. Brush the teeth gently, first over their grinding surface, then across, and lastly from the gums towards the points, particularly the inside of the lower front teeth, to clear the interstices. Should the gums bleed by moderate brushing, the operation is salutary; and in most cases where they have receded, it will cause them to grow up again and adhere to the teeth, if they are free from tartar. The judicious use of the brush is the best means of preserving the teeth and gums in a healthy and firm state. They should never be rubbed with a cloth or the finger in preference to the brush. Those who possess good teeth should be careful to preserve them. When they are in good order, and free from tartar, the use of a soft brush once a day with a little simple dentifrice occasionally, will be quite sufficient tokeep them so, and with this the owner should rest satisfied. Many individuals with fine teeth, destitute of the sense to let well alone, are so often in the hands of the dentist, that the very means by which they seek to gratify their vanity become the sources of its mortification. As many persons have an aversion to the use of dentifrice, p...« less