Garretson's Improved Impression Cup. [Volume: 2, Issue: 5, December, 1860, pp. 267]

GARRETSON'S IMPROVED IMPRESSION CUP.

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get with our lancet; the forceps were applied, and the tooth drawn
quite readily. Upon examining the tooth, however, we were surprised
to see the bicuspid firmly united to it, by a flap of hard granulated gum;
both teeth had thus been drawn simultaneously. So firmly was the gum
united to both teeth, that it required considerable force to cut it loose
from them.
The tooth thus accidentally dislodged proved to be perfectly sound, so
that we thought it best to slip it back into its socket, requesting the patient to inform us in a short time how the tooth was getting on. Up to
this time the tooth is doing well, and has become quite firm again. We
have made up our mind, since this occurrence, which at the time we regretted very much, to be more careful than ever to lance the gums well
before extracting teeth.
ALEXANDRIA, VA.
GARRETSON'S IMPROVED IMPRESSION CUP.
BY J. FOSTER FLAGG, D.D.S.
IN the proceedings of the Pennsylvania Association of Dental Surgeons, October ninth, mention is made of the presentation to notice of an
improved impression cup, the invention of Mr. Garretson, of Philadelphia, who is specially engaged in the direction of mechanical dentistry.
It has seemed to me that I might be of service to those members of my
profession who find it difficult to get, at first, accurate impressions, (as
was the case formerly with myself,) by calling more particular attention to
this cup.
It was given me for trial some six months since, and has proven at once
a simple, ingenious, and efficacious modification of the ordinary cup, enabling the operator to obtain with much certainty a model that shall yield
a satisfactorily fitting plate.
The improvement consists in a sort of "false bottom," flaring, something like a plowshare, laterally and anteriorly, which can be pushed
up as the final act of taking the impression, thus forcing the wax firmly
into the anterior portion of the palatine arch and giving that feeling of
"touching" at every point which is so desirable to patients for their
comfort, and to operators as the guarantee for the usefulness of their
plates.
The gratification which I have experienced at the accurate fitting of
partial, and the adhesion of suction plates, with comparatively no
trouble, has induced me to make this communication as a tribute to
the inventive genius of a friend, and a means of enabling others to arrive,
with equal facility, at equally good results.
PHiLADELPHIA, PA.