138 ANIMAL DENTISTRY. 



joint and two cutting jaws, one to one and a quarter inches 

 long, which come together in perfect apposition. The cut- 

 ting surface is dropped three-eighths of an inch below the 

 level of the instrument better to enable the grasping of small 

 points. It should be made with a box joint, the center of 

 which is no more than two and a quarter inches from the end 

 of the cutting jaws. The forks and handles should be of no 

 less than five-sixteenths inch steel. 



This instrument was primarily intended to trim the 

 enamel points along the arcades, both superior and inferior, 

 and it is still being used for this purpose by some veterinary 

 practitioners. Its use for this purpose cannot, however, be 

 sanctioned, owing to the difficulty of placing them accurately 

 upon the small enamel points located posteriorly on the ar- 



FiG. gi. 



Closed Molar Trimmer. 



cades. The smallness of the points, the motility of the head 

 and the great distance between the hands and the cutting end 

 of the instrument, makes their applicability difficult in the 

 hands of the unskilled. Even in the hands of the skilled den- 

 tist their use amounts to the cutting of whatever happens to 

 be caught between the jaws. 



The closed trimmer should be used only in cutting the 

 projections at the extremities of the arcades — the first su- 

 perior and sixth inferior molars — for which purpose they are 



indispensable. 



THE OPEN MOLAR-CUTTER. 



The open molar-cutter of the double-lever variety is also 

 an indispensable part of the dental outfit, and owing to the 

 laborious work it must perform it should be powerful enough 

 to cut any projecting tooth promptly. The style recom- 



