A thread about waxing

[coodoo]

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Hey guys/gals,

I have recently, within the last week, started waxing premolars and molars (the occlusal portion given to us first semester newbs this coming fall). I was just wondering how long it takes for someone to get good at something like this? The models that I make come out to be somewhat bumby at the ridges and cusps 🙁

 

[grtuck]

That is a difficult question to answer. Some people seem to be great at it the first time they do it, others never can really get it down. A lot of it depends on your "talent" and how much you practice it. Within a month most people have it down fairly good, and certainly almost everyone will be rather proficient by the end of the first semester. At least that is what it seemed like for my class.

If you practice a lot, and have someone who knows what they are looking for go over it with you so you can learn from your mistakes, you will be doing great in no time at all. Just don't get frustrated with it.

grtuck

 

[coodoo]

That is a difficult question to answer. Some people seem to be great at it the first time they do it, others never can really get it down. A lot of it depends on your "talent" and how much you practice it. Within a month most people have it down fairly good, and certainly almost everyone will be rather proficient by the end of the first semester. At least that is what it seemed like for my class.

If you practice a lot, and have someone who knows what they are looking for go over it with you so you can learn from your mistakes, you will be doing great in no time at all. Just don't get frustrated with it.

grtuck

Thanks a lot man...The damn thing does get frustrating from time to time. Just needed to vent a lil bit 😀

 

[grtuck]

I forgot to mention that you should talk with some of your upperclassmates. There are some tricks to making your tooth look more like a tooth. This includes things like nylon stockings cut into small pieces and used to "buff" and smooth the surfaces. Some people use cotton instead of nylons too.

grtuck

 

[ItsGavinC]

I agree. Some people just never get it. For example, my *best* looking stuff was just as good as the mediocre looking stuff of some of my classmates. And still, my stuff was much better than some other classmates. Don't worry too much about it.

 

[DrTacoElf]

So basically you just take a block of wax and create a tooth model from scratch? What is the purpose of this? Do labs use this to create crowns etc?

 

[grtuck]

There are 2 main ways to carve teeth out of wax, one way is to carve down a block of wax, the other is the "added wax" technique. Different schools teach different ways (from what I understand), but both work just great for the purposes of teaching dental anatomy.

For the block way, yes you just carve it down to what you want it to look like. (We don't use this way, so I'm not able to tell you much more about this way.)

For the added wax technique you start with a die (of a prepared tooth) and add drops of melted wax to it until it is a "glob" that somewhat resembles the tooth, then you carve it back to make it look accurate. The labs that I have visited all use the added wax technique.

The purpose of this is to teach you (the student) about dental anatomy. If you can carve it accurately, you should have a good mental image of what that tooth should look like. This will come in handy when you are restoring badly broken down teeth. It is really helpful to teach you for part one of the boards too, if you put some effort into it.

grtuck

 

[DDSSlave]

...one way is to carve down a block of wax

If this really exists, it defeats the whole purpose of learning to wax which is to create a wax crown on a die. There's no way to make a gold crown without a die. (Cerac et al is an entirely different topic)

Waxing is a process of adding (and carving) wax onto a die until it resembles a tooth. It's a skill that some pick up fast and others never really pick up at all. If you want to be good at it, you have to put in the time. It used to take me hours/days to wax up a decent molar. It now takes about an hour or so.

I recommend nylon. Many of my friends have also used a very thin layer of Vaseline (NOT when casting) to "hide" imperfections. I've never done this myself, but it did seem to work. Give it a try during all the free time I'm sure you have. 😉

 

[DrTacoElf]

What is this die you speak of (got any pics?). Whats the process for making a gold crown starting with an impression.

is it something like this

damaged tooth
take impression
cast impression = die
build up around die with wax to create model
cast model
pour gold in cast
attach crown to tooth?

 

[grtuck]

The block method is NOT what you would use for a crown, it is used only to teach dental anatomy. This technique allows the student to also learn root morphology by having to carve it as well as the crown. I guess I wasn't explicit enough before, or my post was a little ambiguous. Here are some pictures of teeth waxed from a block.

http://www.apdentistry.com/dental anatomy.html

Here is a link I found that will give you a basic idea about waxing. The "stubby" looking tooth is basically the die. This example is done on a typodont, but for a crown for one of your patients you will wax it (or your lab will) on a stone cast of the patients mouth. I'm not sure why they use the 2 colors, we just use blue at my school.

http://www.apdentistry.com/Dental Waxing 2.html

And yes, many of your classmates will be doing a good wax-up in under an hour long before they graduate.

I may miss some of the steps for this but here is an overview:

1. Prepare the tooth (make it a stub).
2. Take an impression of the arch with the prepared tooth.
3. You will have to make it so that the "die" can be removed from the cast by separating the cast into sections.
4. Follow the waxing steps on the link above.
5. Place the waxed up crown into casting stone and let it set/harden (it will not be attached to the original cast for this).
6. Melt out the wax and melt in the gold.
7. Polish and finish the crown, then deliver to patient.
8. Lather, rinse, repeat....jk

grtuck

 

[DDSSlave]

http://www.apdentistry.com/dental anatomy.html

cool link.. wow, I'd hate to to have to wax up or carve the entire tooth

 

[grtuck]

cool link.. wow, I'd hate to to have to wax up or carve the entire tooth

Me too, though I'm told it does help to learn the roots real well. Just imagine how much time it would take to have to wax all your patients teeth up like that. 😱

grtuck

 

[c132]

Oh, and lose the Bush bashing! BUSH RULES!

 

[Meggs]

I'm not sure why they use the 2 colors, we just use blue at my school.

At UOP they use different colors for each dental anatomy feature, that way the students learn to identify and diferentiate each and everyone of the features of teeth. Among other things it helps you refer to thing by its name, like "add or reduce bulkness from the mesial lingual ridge", instead of saying "make that side right there more rounded"; not because of how it sounds, but because of what you learn from the phrase. You're actually seeing where the ridge begins and ends, instead of guessing.

The different color wax ups are only for academic purposes, its done a few times at the beggining, then is just one plain color.

For the people that wanted to know what's the purpose of waxing in general, is that the more carving/adding you do, the more you develop your hand skills and your dental anatormy skills, and the better you perform when placing composite, adjusting a crown, etc. and the patient says "Dr. there's a high point right there" while pointing with a finger that covers the whole tooth, and you can't see a thing and the articulating paper isn't helping.

 

[toothcaries]

I forgot to mention that you should talk with some of your upperclassmates. There are some tricks to making your tooth look more like a tooth. This includes things like nylon stockings cut into small pieces and used to "buff" and smooth the surfaces. Some people use cotton instead of nylons too.

grtuck

best advice.^^

i dont really mind waxing..
it's one of those "zen/no mind" activities.
once u learn how it flows and how to control it...it is not a big deal.