214 MECHANICAL APPLIANCES 



It is for this reason I have ventured to select 

 from that interesting and rather comprehensive 

 subject — irregularities in the growth of the per- 

 manent teeth, some of the mechanical appliances 

 which have hitherto been used for the purpose of 

 drawing and forcing the teeth into their proper 

 line on the alveolar ridge, and directing them to 

 their proper approximation, conducing to their 

 utility as well as appearance. 



Perhaps it will not be quite out of place here to 

 allude to the age when any attempt at correction 

 by mechanical means should be undertaken. 

 I believe that some practitioners prefer leaving 

 it until all the permanent teeth are through, ex- 

 cepting the third molars. For my own part, I 

 prefer getting the teeth into position at as early 

 an age as I possibly can : although frequently 

 attended with much greater difficulty, the advan- 

 tage of the teeth being directed into the proper 

 position, whilst the process of the new formation 

 is in vigorous operation, fully compensates for any 

 extra trouble the case may possibly have given ; 

 but it most frequently occurs that we have not 

 this choice given us, and besides, cases have been 

 most successfully treated up to twenty-five, and 

 even thirty years of age. 



Formerly, when the position of a tooth was 

 required to be moved, recourse was had to a gold 

 plate, or bone-piece fitted to the mouth, which 

 was used for drawing the teeth inwards by means 



