On the construction and application of forceps for extracting teeth / by John Tomes.

  • John Tomes
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the construction and application of forceps for extracting teeth / by John Tomes. 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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    scribe those that have been planned or modified by myself; and I do so without wishing to claim any merit as an inventor, but merely as having carried out a principle admitting of general application, which has been neglected, or at least neglected to have been made public. All forceps whatever should embrace the tooth they are used to extract at its neck; the neck being that part which is between the termination of the enamel and the free edge of the alveoli, and which is covered by gum. In order to arrive at this part of the tooth with- out difficulty, or unnecessary pain to the patient, the jaws must pre- sent an inclined plane, terminating in an edge. The external surface of the jaws of forceps, when closed, should present something like a cone, or parts of several cones, with the apex or apices cut off; and a perpendicular section should present an inclined plane, terminating in an edge, but more or less curved, as may be suitable to the parti- cular instrument. The length from the joint to the edge of the jaws should on no account be greater than will be necessary to allow suf- ficient space for the reception of the crown and neck of the tooth, so that no strength may be lost. The fangs of all teeth having a general conical form, forceps, when well made and applied, should be but as a lengthening of the cone towards its base. For removing teeth which are not decayed down to the gums, the ends of the jaws should be square; but when no- thing but the fang remains of a tooth, rounded ends are the more convenient, as with that shape they are readily introduced between the fang and inclosing alveolus. Instruments for extracting stumps should be made altogether lighter, the jaws thin and sharp at their convex ends, so that they may be made to cut rather than tear the membrane connecting the fang with the adjoining tissues. Forceps should be constructed and used upon the principle of lengthening the tooth for the extraction of which they are intended; thus enabling the operator to move it from side to side, or rotate it if the fang be single, and of a shape admitting of such motion. After these lateral movements have been produced, the tooth may, unless the fangs have some peculiar position or shape, be raised in a perpendicular direction, leaving as little injury from its removal as the operation can admit. FORCEPS FOR THE EXTRACTION OF THE INCISORES, CUSPIDATI, AND BICUSPIDES. A section through the neck of an incisor of the upper jaw will show that the anterior is larger, and forms part of a greater circle, than the posterior surface. Now the end to be attained in the appli- cation of forceps is to apply them over as large a surface as possible, thereby avoiding the chance of fracturing the tooth by the pressure of the instrument. To extract these teeth, therefore, the jaw to be ap-
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