Rubber dam placement tips

[plusalpha]

How do you all place the rubber dam retainer on your patient/typodont? Do you suggest to place it on the tooth BEFORE the rubber dam, or is it easier/better to place it simultaneously with the retainer placed on the rubber dam and moving the entire thing into the mouth? Any other tips to place the rubber dam on efficiently? Thanks 🙂

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[Incision21]

How do you all place the rubber dam retainer on your patient/typodont? Do you suggest to place it on the tooth BEFORE the rubber dam, or is it easier/better to place it simultaneously with the retainer placed on the rubber dam and moving the entire thing into the mouth? Any other tips to place the rubber dam on efficiently? Thanks 🙂

My preferred method is to put the retainer on the tooth first to make sure it fits correctly and ensure I'm not impinging on gingiva, mount the dam (with holes punched) on the frame, then take that to the patient's mouth. It's pretty easy to stretch it over the retainer on the tooth and you don't have to fish for the slippery rubber in the patient's mouth to mount it on the frame.

 

[bracketbuster68]

You're gonna hear a lot of answers for this. I tried a few methods and my favorite was what the endodontist told me. Put the dam itself on first and then place the clamp. Then put the frame on. Don't be afraid to readjust the dam once you get the frame attached. Like you can take the rubber dam off some corners of the frame and put them back on for a better fit.
On real patients you can lightly coat the dam w/ some vaseline to help it slide on. Never tried it w/ a typodont.

 

[cooliyak]

This is exactly how I do it. It is super easy for me to place with everything as one unit:

 

[TanMan]

How do you all place the rubber dam retainer on your patient/typodont? Do you suggest to place it on the tooth BEFORE the rubber dam, or is it easier/better to place it simultaneously with the retainer placed on the rubber dam and moving the entire thing into the mouth? Any other tips to place the rubber dam on efficiently? Thanks 🙂

Most of the time, I prefer clamp on first. It's easy to ninja a rubber dam on once you have a stable clamp. I prefer this method since I tend to do the crown preps first before RCT and I need to visualize the margins without chipping or destroying the margins/impinging on gingiva.

This is exactly how I do it. It is super easy for me to place with everything as one unit:

This works well in areas with sufficient height of contour and unprepped teeth. Not so well on teeth that have crown preps or partially erupted molars.

 

[plusalpha]

Thank you for the replies! Seems like each method has its pros and cons 😕 It's fairly simple and I have no problem when I have an assistant stretch out the holes while I floss them through the interproximal contacts, but I do take quite a long time when doing it alone.... Anyways, another question, which non-latex rubber dam brand do you find easiest to work with?