Is a slot design a must without occlusal caries?

[nuts]

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Hi all, do you know if I can do conventional preps even if there is no occlusal caries? I have never done a slot prep and am afraid I will screw it up. Has anyone got rejected for doing a conventional design when a slot prep is just as good?

Thanks!

 

[gottago]

You can do a conventional design even for composite with no occlusal caries present. It's ok and accepted, at least in WREB.

 

[DesiDentist]

I would do conventional. A slot prep is way to conservative and you might not see any demin or caries. do a conventional design, keep it small do not undermine the marginal ridges. The ideal class II lesion doesn't involve the occlusal, however caries on the occlusal are hard to see radiographically somtimes and you just need to open the tooth up.

DD

 

[nuts]

Thank you guys! My exam is coming up and this slot prep idea has been making me sweat 😛. It is so hard to persuade my patient to do amalgam and he only let me do it on the most posterior tooth and this is one with shallow occlusal grooves and no obvious decay. I don't really trust the 2 tiny retentive grooves to retain such a restoration under the most occlusal force.

 

[neha]

I have always done slot designs on my test cases at school . I planned to do a slot design on my WREB as well but in the last minute had to change my patient.
I love slot design. But only for composite. Not for amalgam. It is basically like a box prep with rounded angles and bevels. Very conservative,easy and quick.

 

[ItsGavinC]

I was going to do a WREB slot, but ended up doing a conventional prep due to the tooth. I think that it many cases it only adds 5-10 minutes to your overall time. Mine had stain on the occlusal surface, then caries ~1mm down that extended the length of the occlusal surface towards my proximal area.