How to use a facebow...

[Decan]

I need to make a facebow record for one of my patients. We never got any written notes on it second year and got a 30 second demo, and that's the last time I ever saw one done. I can probably get help from a fourth year in clinic but I'd like to brush up before the procedure. I know that first you use bite registration material on the bitefork, place it in the mouth, wait for it to set, and assemble the facebow by placing it in the ears and centering the nasion. But I don't remember what knobs to tighten and when. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


PS - We use a whip mix facebow.

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[Stephie3]

make sure the little bump on the bite fork is facing up when you put it in the patient's mouth.

when adjusting the facebow on the patient, make sure the orbitale indicator (eye thingy) is just below the eye where the infraorbital foramen is.

after adjusting it, our facebows had three knobs on them. they were numbered 1, 2, and 3. you tighten then in that order....1 then 2 then 3.

when putting the facebow on the articulator, make sure that the orbitale indicator (eye thingy) is in the right place where it should be. you should really get someone at your school to make sure ALL of the settings are on zero before you do the facebow transfer, if you are using a fully adjustable articulator. make sure the incisal pin is set at the right level.

if you have to mount casts on the articulator, mount the maxillary cast before the mandibular cast. make sure the silly incisal pin doesn't expand. this is a HUGE deal. work fast with the plaster and put a book on top of the thing or something, ANYTHING, to make sure it doesn't expand. thats a big deal..if the incisal pin is off more than a millimeter, then it is going to screw up the accuracy of the facebow transfer.

if you have any questions, just PM me 🙂

 

[Stephie3]

also, after you mouth the maxillary cast with plaster, let the plaster dry a little and then turn the articulator upside down. set the mandibular cast onto the maxillary cast so the teeth occlude as much and as tightly as possible (in MIP)..at our school we hot glued popsicle sticks to the two casts to make them stay together where the teeth are in maximum intercuspation (the teeth are tightly met and if you stuck a tissue in them, you couldnt pull the tissue out of them)..then after you've made sure the casts are stuck together tightly enough and held into place by popsicle sticks, then mouth the bottom cast with plaster.

all the time, watch your incisal pin and make sure it doesn't get off of its setting.

plaster expands after you work with it, so you need to put a book on it to keep the incisal pin from being thrown off.

so the three main important things are 1. making sure you get the orbitale indicator in the right place 2. dont let your incisal pin expand 3. make sure the teeth occlude tightly and are in maximum intercuspation

 

[Decan]

Do you remember which knobs are 1, 2, and 3? We have 3 on ours as well...i think one on a vertical rod and two on a horizontal rod. When its all said and done, this is what it should look like: http://www.whipmix.com/product.aspx?p_id=44&ps_id=3. Thanks for the help!

 

[Decan]

Scratch that, this is the one we have: http://www.whipmix.com/product.aspx?p_id=43&ps_id=3

 

[Stephie3]

sorry we had a different kind and the knobs were marked with #s. you might check and see if there's any writing on the knobs. sorry i cant help on that one