Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Tin foil and its combinations for filling teeth. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.
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![CHAPTER V. In some months tin does not discolor, bnt retains a clean, nnpolished tin color, yet when there is a sesqnioxid of the metal formed, fillings present a grayish a])])earance. In the same mouth some fillings will be discolored, while others are not. As a general rule, ])roximal fillings are most liable to show discoloration. Perhaps one reason is that on occlusal and buccal surfaces they are subject to more friction from mastication, movements of the cheeks, and the use of the brush. We have seen a large number of fillings which were not blackened, yet were saving the teeth per- fectly, thus proving to a certainty that blackening of tin in the tooth-cavity is not absolutely essential in order to obtain its salvatory effects as a filling- material. Where there is considerable decomposition of food which produces sulfuretted hydrogen, the sulfid of tin may be formed on and around the fillings; it is of a yellowish or brownish color, and as an antiseptic is in such cases desirable. To offset the discoloration, we find that the sulfid is insol- uble, and fills the ends of the tubuli, thus lending its aid in preventing further caries. A sulfid is a com-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2123100x_0054.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
