2010 Waxups Q's

[newyorkblork]

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Greetings SDN!

I know there are a few questions on Waxups asked roughly every year. I looked through the information and didn't find much except specific Waxup techniques; I've played with buildup and breakdown techniques, and I think I need a new approach. So I've made my own thread, which I think will be useful to other struggling first years.

That all said, I barely skated by on my waxup practical today; 75, the lowest possible grade before remediation becomes necessary. I don't really like that feeling, so my question now is...

Do you, as someone who started out terrible at waxing, have specific advice to get better? That is, did you have a particularly revelatory session with a professor, did you watch any useful videos online, any useful books?

Alternatively, have you helped someone get better at waxing? What did you think was most useful?

I know "just practice" is sort of the common adage for this stuff... but I've logged a whole lot of extra, focused hours in the lab and at this point I feel like I'm just not improving, just repeating. I guess I'm kind of lucky in that I actually love waxups (it's very Zen), and I don't mind logging the hours, but it does get frustrating being so fail at them - especially the more hours I 'sink'.

Anyway, any advice for a tired first-year to ace his next waxup practical is very welcome.

Thanks!

 

[DrReo]

Greetings SDN!

I know there are a few questions on Waxups asked roughly every year. I looked through the information and didn't find much except specific Waxup techniques; I've played with buildup and breakdown techniques, and I think I need a new approach. So I've made my own thread, which I think will be useful to other struggling first years.

That all said, I barely skated by on my waxup practical today; 75, the lowest possible grade before remediation becomes necessary. I don't really like that feeling, so my question now is...

Do you, as someone who started out terrible at waxing, have specific advice to get better? That is, did you have a particularly revelatory session with a professor, did you watch any useful videos online, any useful books?

Alternatively, have you helped someone get better at waxing? What did you think was most useful?

I know "just practice" is sort of the common adage for this stuff... but I've logged a whole lot of extra, focused hours in the lab and at this point I feel like I'm just not improving, just repeating. I guess I'm kind of lucky in that I actually love waxups (it's very Zen), and I don't mind logging the hours, but it does get frustrating being so fail at them - especially the more hours I 'sink'.

Anyway, any advice for a tired first-year to ace his next waxup practical is very welcome.

Thanks!

You can wax your heart out, but you need someone to critique the product. Understand what they are looking for and why your anatomy isn't correct.

 

[New2Philly]

You can wax your heart out, but you need someone to critique the product. Understand what they are looking for and why your anatomy isn't correct.

True. Get an extra pair of eyes to look at your wax up when practicing, and learn how to be critical. Make sure all of your angles are lines, and angles are correct, and most importantly the proximal contacts.

I know some who are a little haphazard on their build up, but I have found that when I aim for a build up that is approximating the finished product it goes easier.

 

[Sauce]

I think that what is most helpful is developing an eye skills. Once you can see what needs to happen the hand skills are only a matter of time. A lot of times its not too hard to see that what we are doing sucks but its sometimes hard to know why it sucks. Getting critique from others and understanding anatomy will help with this.

 

[Synlar]

Use a good fulcrum,
keep your carving instrument resting partially on tooth structure (this would help prevent ditching, and help thin out flash enough for you to figure out it's flash hopefully, though the flash thing could be annoying),
get your marginal ridge height to the same level as that of the tooth next to it, make your triangular fossa, make major grooves, then start working cusps and embrasures, etc.
Look at the adjacent tooth, or tooth on opposite side as reference to how it should look.

I miss waxing... it was so relaxing/therapeutic. Haha.

 

[Mackchops]

I love waxing up! I wax all my anterior cases. Even my PFMs. It really helps you and the patient come together on a predictable result. My advice to you just starting out? Appreciate the material. I TA'ed our wax-up lab for the first years and too many students try to build up with luke-warm wax. Play around with the heat on your PKT and learn how the wax behaves as you try to add it -- you'll find that when the wax is hot enough to allow you to paint it on (it adheres to the wax you're adding it to instead of beads) you'll have an easier time shaving it off. Also, aim to shave, not carve. You should have thin spiraled shavings of wax on your table, not chunks or splinters. You'll keep a smoother surface which will be easier to evaluate. Lastly, make sure to look at the tooth from every angle possible. Out of the typodont and in the typodont (or on the cast or however else you're waxing). Relate your waxup to an uncut typodont tooth out of the mouth and also to the other teeth in the arch with the waxed up tooth in place. You'll more easily gain an appreciation for the contours of the tooth as they relate to the arch.

Other than that, try to get the waxup to look perfect and then ask someone else to evaluate it. Practice. Gaining skill at waxups will really help as you move to preps, restorations, and fixed work -- especially temps. I can carve a beautiful temp out of a block of acrylic in about 20 minutes and I use the same ideas there as I did in my waxups. Patients (and their gums!) really appreciate a nice looking temp.

Good luck! PM me if you have other questions.

 

[kitejunky27]

the trick that did it for me was thinking about building where its high and carving where its low

this works for me

leave tooth in and take the PKT heat up and add wax around the axial walls of the prep once you have built to the top of the prep add a layer over the prep occlusaly. Then use the pkt and add drops to build your cusps in the right locations. Build them up high then articulate the typhodont to mash the wax down to see where your hight needs to be. Then use drops of wax to build the ridges. After that use the PKT or a polisher, cold, to draw in your occlusal groove pattern. After this your tooth should have have roughly the right features.

from here you can carve or you can melt and spread the wax to smoothen every thing up. When your carving try and rest it on the margin to set you lingual and facial contours.

i think the biggest thing is finding a system so that you dont spend endless hours going round and round and getting no where

 

[Noble6]

Understanding line angles and placing them correctly has made a huge difference.

Double checking and fixing all your embrasures helps.

Sometimes I've felt like I try to replicate the tooth from the opposing arch when they really just want to see the anatomy more clearly. So alot of times I feel like I'm almost overexaggerating the anatomy but I'm really just getting it the way they want it. Which brings me to my next point...

I don't know how they grade at your school but every professor sees things differently and is looking at it from a different perspective. Finding out what they want and doing it their way is key, even if you don't necessarily like it.

What are you getting points taken off for?

 

[liriano]

Waxing, for me too, was difficult at first. There is no tutorial (other than a ten minute video the instructor showed at the beginning of the semester) that can explicitly describe the proper techniques. It really is trial and error. Manipulating the wax was the toughest thing for me personally. I could see the mistakes/adjustments I needed to make, but I didn't know HOW to make them.

One thing I would suggest is waxing at home. Staying in my school lab had too many negatives - other students talking or playing annoying music loudly, the uncomfortable chairs, pressure to finish before the lab closed, etc. Get a propane torch from Home Depot, bring your waxing stuff home, and practice. Once I did this, my skills went up a hundred fold. Also, build one section at a time. I normally constuct buccal, lingual, mesial, distal, then occlusal with lots of nylon polishing in between. Hope that helps.

 

[newyorkblork]

Thanks guys, a lot of good advice here. I think what has been key for my improvement has been lots of practice (not really earthshattering, we all knew that was the key) combined with focusing on creating the dental anatomy, as mentioned earlier.

It might seem obvious to others, but what I was trying to do (since I was essentially put into a chair and told "make a tooth") was replicate the tooth on the other side, only in 'mirror image' form. I find that if I just use the adjacent teeth as a visual guide - is the arch correct? Is the height of contour correct? Are the embrasures correct? in lieu of a "model for replication", it just makes a lot more sense to my eyes. I've been getting better feedback, the tools feel a little more natural to my hands, and I now understand the differences between working with HOT wax, hot wax, cold wax, and 'frozen' wax, meaning I'm better able to shape the stuff without having it suddenly turn into a mushy ball, or shatter into 5 frozen pieces.

Just playing around with the wax, as hopeless as it seemed, has been a big help. Getting lots of feedback has helped. Now I just need to find hours upon hours to practice - setting up a home waxing station seems like a decent solution for this.

I got points off for missing dental anatomy structures (again, basic stuff, but it's important to remember that creating the anatomy can be a lot more productive than "mirroring" the other side). My molars are actually looking pretty decent; now to get it down to 1 hour so I can get a nice polished A on my practical 🙂

Thanks again for the posts, and any more incoming advice is of course more than welcome. I am reading, I just didn't want to break the flow with too many "thank you" and "oh i should try that" posts.

Followup question and potential derail:
I know some people mentioned that waxing is 'a pointless technique' and others mention that it 'really helps with aesthetic dentistry'. What do you guys think about the relevance of waxing up teeth?

 

[Hordel]

so understand I am NOT great at wax ups but I have work VERY hard at getting better at them over the past years and have made some progess. Yet I would say that practice is VERY important, an extra set of eyes and REALLY trying to learn from them not what is wrong with THAT tooth but what is wrong overall (you really need to learn how to evaluate your OWN work). I always found it easier to add wax like made at the start so that I have a TON of time to adjust as needed. I would wax it somewhat close but not near close enough to even pass and then I would spend HOURS evaluating and adjusting till I was happy. Also NEVER underestimate the value of a REALLY good polish. To be really honest, I feel as if sometimes you can do a poor wax-up and by putting a good polish on it you get a whole grade above what you should have gotten. To polish use a very smooth paper product (kleenex or the cutips) add a TON of soap and heat the soap and paper slightly then start polishing. DO NOT be too aggressive or you might decrease the anatomy you worked hard to create, yet do not be to gentle either, you kinda have to find the right balance.

With all this said I do feel there is something worth saying, it is VERY subjective! So learning how to evaluate your own work is SO VERY important so that you know when it is pretty good and when it should pass. I am NOT saying that every wax-up could pass if given to the right person, BUT it is possible that one person sayisn it is a 75 and another might say it is an 85.

This is MY experience and MAY NOT be anything like yours. Good luck and I hope it helps!

 

[DrReo]

Nylons will definitely leave a nice polish too.

 

[Oral]

Nylons will definitely leave a nice polish too.

They'll also strip your contacts with one or two passes. I use nylons for a very general smoothing and then once I have everything they way I like it, I'll rub some soap on it with a cotton roll and rinse it off.

Smoothness and shininess is the difference between a 96 and 100.

 

[dentaldam5]

nothing shines like some nose grease