FOUR PERMANENT FIRST MOLARS. 63 



even when the first molars have been removed after 

 the bicuspides have articulated, but the dentist can 

 7iever guarantee the result to the parents, for the 

 bicuspides will not always recede in such cases, 

 wherefore it is better to remove the first molars 

 while the bicuspides are developing themselves ; by 

 so doing, the irregularity is in a great measure 

 anticipated. Parents, however, at this period are 

 unable to see the necessity for the operation, and 

 consequently object, in most cases, to its being per- 

 formed unless they have perfect confidence in their 

 dentist. It is only this week I have heard of an 

 irregularity having established itself in a case where, 

 had my advice been taken and the first molars 

 removed, the parents would never have seen the 

 irregularity. They now admit the correctness of 

 my views, and the child is to be brought to me 

 when next in town. 



(3.) Many parents, owing to the slowness of the 

 results, become fearftd that the irregularity will 

 not disappear without mechanical assistance. Once 

 an arch, however, is equal in capacity to the number 

 of teeth in it, and that those teeth are not fully 

 developed in their positions, I have, from practical 

 observation, every confidence in the power of nature 

 to place, in time, the teeth in their normal positions. 

 As I have already mentioned, the first molars once 

 removed at the proper time, the assistance of 

 mechanism is the exception, and not the rule. 



(4.) In regard to the difficulty of the operation, 



