it is little more than pure plasm poured out from a comparatively healthy living tissue at the end of the root. In other cases, it is the product of a suppurating tissue which presents a more or less offensive ichorious discharge. This will sometimes occur when the tissue about the end of the root is not extensely involved in disease. Sometimes there is in connection with it alveolar abscess. If an abscess is not already formed care should be exercised in the management of the case, lest more disease occurs than was at first found. The discharge of comparatively healthly plasm through a root is from a living surface just under sufficient irritation to prevent healing. This irritation will usually subside upon thorough cleansing of the part, and applying antiseptic preparations. This will be effected in many cases very promptly. In others far more time will be required.

In any case how shall it be known that restoration of the part to a healthy condition has been obtained?

Usually by filling the canal with fibers of silk, flax, or cotton, not too tightly, and hermetically sealing the external opening; permitting it to remain from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, then remove and note if the silk is moistened or has an offensive odor. If it is markedly so, further medication is required. If there is no odor, and the silk is dry, the indications are favorable, and but little risk will be incurred in at once effectually closing the canal, pulp chamber, and cavity of decay. If, however, any fear is entertained in reference to the result, it is quite practicable to make another test during a longer time.

In some cases a discharge that is very offensive at first may be in a very short time greatly changed for the better, and, indeed, in many cases a return to a healthy condition be established within a few days. The agents appropriate for this purpose are iodine and creosote or carbolic acid, peroxide of nydrogen, salicylic acid, iodoform, oil of cloves, etc. A judicious selection and application from this list of agents will usually be quite sufficient, as far as topical treat

ment is concerned.

This is in the first class of cases men

tioned where alveolar abscess has not been formed.

There are some teeth from which there is no appreciable escape of fluid, which, if sealed up, cause great annoyance and severe pain. This occurs from vapor or gas products. Such cases are not of frequent occurrence, but occasionally are found, and sometimes to the great annoyance of both patient and operator. The operations and treatment are the same as though the product was a fluid. The vapor or gas proceeds from the decomposition of offensive matter that must be removed or neutralized. That being done, the vapor or gas no longer appears and annoys. The treatment after this is the same as the treatment in any case of pulpless teeth.-Dental Register.

ARTICLE VII.

ADVICE TO THOSE WHO WEAR ARTIFICIAL TEETH.

The varied scenes and trials through which every one must pass before artificial teeth are necessary, are not easily forgotten. They remenber how (in many cases by neglect) one tooth after another decayed, till the nerve became exposed and ulcers formed, producing the most excruciating pain; but now the last offending member has been extracted, and "my troubles are ended. I can now have artificial teeth in every way as good as natural ones." To correct some erroneous opinions on this point is the object of this article.

Artificial teeth, properly made, will answer many purposes of natural teeth, but no dentist can insert teeth which will answer those purposes as well as natural ones.

There are many difficulties attending the wearing of

artificial dentures which, in the main, by patience and perseverance, may be overcome.

Ist. The presence of the plate in the mouth at first, specially when the patient has been without teeth for a long time, is a source of inconvenience. A few days of patient use will remove this trouble.

2d. Many complain of the plate chafing the gums, producing soreness. This difficulty comes mainly when the plate is inserted soon after the teeth are extracted; the gum heals over the sharp, bony points of the sockets; the plate pressing on the gums causes these points to cut through to the plate; in a few days these points will absorb, the gum heal, and the plate will be worn with ease. If the edge of the plate cuts into the contiguous muscle, of course, this edge should be cut back.

3rd. Others complain that the plate produces an unpleasant taste in the mouth. This may be because it is made of base material; when good material is used, such as continuous gum, gold, or vulcanite, this difficulty will not exist, if the plate is kept clean. When eating, fine, starchy parti cles of food will adhere to the plate; if not removed, it will soon sour, producing an unpleasant taste. The plate should be cleansed after each meal.

4th. The difficulty most complained of, specially in full sets (and partial sets where clasps are discarded) is the inability to use the teeth, when first inserted. This difficulty occurs in every case to some degree, and to overcome it, much depends on the patience, perseverance, and aptness of the wearer. To be more explicit, the upper plate is held up by suction, with a force varying from eight to fifteen pounds. The main object of this suction is to keep the plate from dropping when speaking, laughing or eating.

The teeth are required to be set on the plate at an angle of from ten to twenty degrees. The force of an ordinary bite is about fifty pounds, which, if applied to the front teeth at this angle, in the same manner in which we would bite with the natural teeth, would, of course, overcome the

eight or fifteen pounds atmospheric pressure, causing the plate to tip. The same is true in chewing on one side of the mouth. To remedy this difficulty, it is necessary for the patient to learn to press the food against the front teeth at the same time they are brought together, and at first to learn to chew on both sides. To so learn this process, till it becomes a habit, usually requires some time.-Allport's Dental Journal.

ARTICLE VIII.

THE MARYLAND DENTAL LAW.

BY RICHARD GRADY, D. D. S., SECRETARY OF STATE BOARD OF DENTAL EXAMINERS.

The amendments to the Maryland Dental Law have just been published. The original law passed by the Maryland Legislature in 1884 called forth criticisms from the Pennsylvania State Dental Examining Board, the National Association of Dental Examiners and several dental journals. Two bills were before the Legislature of 1884, one emanating from the Maryland State Dental Association, and the other presented by the Dental Legislative Society. Neither bill was adopted in its entirety, but it is only just to record the fact that neither bill contained the restrictive provision, noted in the protest of the Pennsylvania Dental Examiners, that it shall be unlawful for any one to engage in the practice of dentistry unless he shall first have passed a satisfactory examination before the Board of Examiners or shall hold a diploma from a university or college chartered by or under the laws of Maryland.

When the Pennsylvania Dental Examiners filed their protest, the original paper was forwarded by the Maryland

Board of Dental Examiners to the Attorney-General of the State who was asked to construe the law. The AttorneyGeneral never responded to this request, but the Governor of the State, himself a lawyer, in a personal interview, suggested that the Board continue to issue temporary certificates to graduates of reputable dental colleges outside of the State, which could be renewed every six months, and promised to second an effort to have the law amended by the Legislature of 1886.

In the meantime the National Association of Dental Examining Boards adopted the following:

"Whereas the dental law of the State of Maryland seems to be restrictive in its character; it is the sense of this body that the dental profession of said State of Maryland, at the next session of its Legislature, should seek to cause said dental law to be amended so as to be in harmony with the dental laws of the other States."

Acting upon this, the Dental Examiners of Maryland called a mass meeting of the dental profession of the State and submitted the following amendments, which after discussion, were unanimously adopted as the sense of the meeting:

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That sections one and eight of the act passed at the January session, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, entitled "AN ACT TO

INSURE THE BETTER EDUCATION OF PRACTITIONERS OF DENTAL SURGERY, AND TO REGULATE THE PRACTICE OF DENTISTRY IN

THE STATE OF MARYLAND be and the same are hereby repealed and re-enacted, so as to read as follows.

SECTION I. That it shall be unlawful for any person who is not at the time of the passage of this act, engaged in the practice of dentistry, to practice dentistry, unless he or she shall have obtained a certificate as herein provided, or shall hold a diploma from a university or college authorized to grant diplomas in Dental Surgery; any person holding such a diploma, and desiring to commence such practice, shall present the same to the Board of Examiners created by this act, for approval; such Examining Board, being satisfied as to the qualifications of the applicant and the