My First Cavity Preparation Experience

[osahon7]

I worked on a left mandibular 3rd molar on a phantom head,it was supposed to be a class 2 but the depth was so much that If it were to be a live patient,I would have been in the patient's pulp chamber ...my second prep was a left mandibular 1st premolar and it was superb .Please share your first cavity prep experience

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[cmcner]

I worked on a left mandibular 3rd molar on a phantom head,it was supposed to be a class 2 but the depth was so much that If it were to be a live patient,I would have been in the patient's pulp chamber ...my second prep was a left mandibular 1st premolar and it was superb .Please share your first cavity prep experience

My first prep on a live pt in dental school was on my Pedo rotation. I was paired up with a senior and he asked me in front of the kid how many I have done. I made a (0) with my thumb and index finger. The kid didn't see, but was like this isn't your first one is it. The senior then said nah he's done tons of these. Kid didn't believe a word of it.

 

[THS]

First pt, October of last year. Missed the IA the first time. Confidence gone. Got the IA the second try. Did a class V on 29, using a closed-sandwich technique. Here is the final restoration. I think the shade match was pretty spot on, I can't see most of my margins in this picture:

 

[tinman831]

First pt, October of last year. Missed the IA the first time. Confidence gone. Got the IA the second try. Did a class V on 29, using a closed-sandwich technique. Here is the final restoration. I think the shade match was pretty spot on, I can't see most of my margins in this picture:

Looks awesome!

 

[free99]

Nice work @THS! Do you take pictures of most of your cases? We are allowed to at my school, but it's kind of a process to get the camera and set it all up when you're trying to balance everything else in the clinic during the hours you have. We have to use the school's camera and SD card, can't use your own gear that you're familiar with. How does it work at your school?

 

[THS]

Nice work @THS! Do you take pictures of most of your cases? We are allowed to at my school, but it's kind of a process to get the camera and set it all up when you're trying to balance everything else in the clinic during the hours you have. We have to use the school's camera and SD card, can't use your own gear that you're familiar with. How does it work at your school?

Thanks. Photography is a widely used and highly encouraged tool at LSU. We are encouraged to take pictures of all new patients that we OD and treatment plan (we have to present cases, and you never know which pt you're going to present on, so we take "before" pictures of all of them). The operative faculty will take pictures of some of our better or more interesting restorations, and include them in lecture the next week. Postgrad perio will stop in the middle of a surgery to take photos for case presentations. The prosth faculty utilizes digital facebows and "Digital Smile Design" so pictures can help us correct for inaccuracies in a facebow record, and can help us create a mock-up of what a pt could look like after an esthetic treatment. It's great for case acceptance, because it can get a patient motivated to continue treatment. I just started a removable case last week and can't wait to document it.

Our clinic does have cameras that we can check out, but I recently ended up buying my own Nikon D5300 with a Nikon VR 85mm lens and a ring flash. The ability to stand 2 feet away from a patient and take intraoral pictures (with mirrors and retractors) that are higher quality than holding a cell phone up to your patient's face is very convenient, and it looks more professional. The picture above is just from a Samsung Galaxy with the op light.

 

[Incis0r]

Missed the IA the first time. Confidence gone. Got the IA the second try.

How do you get better at detecting the IA?

 

[THS]

How do you get better at detecting the IA?

If you know your landmarks, go in at the right angle, and get the tongue numb but not the lip, you injected too low. It's an easy fix. If you contact bone too early, you hit the lingula and need to correct your angle to get around it. If you're working on a large patient, you will probably need to hub out (fat cheeks are the worst to work around) and inject 2 carps before they feel anything.

 

[Incis0r]

If you know your landmarks, go in at the right angle, and get the tongue numb but not the lip, you injected too low. It's an easy fix. If you contact bone too early, you hit the lingula and need to correct your angle to get around it. If you're working on a large patient, you will probably need to hub out (fat cheeks are the worst to work around) and inject 2 carps before they feel anything.

It really sounds like you are visualizing the anatomy while saying this- awesome work!

Keep on rocking!