Waxing?????????????

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rambo2006

rambo2006

Be a DDS or die trying
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Hello, I have a waxing practical exam this friday and we have 2 hours to wax #5 (Right maxillary 1st premolar). I am struggling to find a specific protocal or process that is time efficiant. If you know of any links to helpful websites I'd really appreciate it. If you could share your techniques that would be also be great.

thanks.
 
good luck on your wax-up practical! I know I screwed up my #11 waxup since I was tinkering around with it too much and messed up my canine guidance...ugh!!

anyway, a good tip is to use a pantyhose and rub the wax to smooth it out. Basically, my approach to doing a wax up is to add the wax so I get approximately the shape I want and then use the pantyhose to smooth it down. You can then add bits by bits to for example add cusps and ridges.
 
INFNITE said:
good luck on your wax-up practical! I know I screwed up my #11 waxup since I was tinkering around with it too much and messed up my canine guidance...ugh!!

anyway, a good tip is to use a pantyhose and rub the wax to smooth it out. Basically, my approach to doing a wax up is to add the wax so I get approximately the shape I want and then use the pantyhose to smooth it down. You can then add bits by bits to for example add cusps and ridges.
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pantyhose work well, but they can be a bit abrasive so watch the proximal contacts while smoothing it down. if you want a nice shine i find that going to town with soap and a touch of water works well, and it does not seem to wear away much, if any, wax. i like to establish cusp height first, then make a rough occlusal table, and then move on to axial contours.

the best tip i have had during practicals is: better is the worst enemy of good enough, or stop before you screw it up.
 
I've seen some of my peers prefer to add little amounts of wax and take it step by step while I am tempted to add a glop of wax and carve away.
 
Cyclysm said:
the best tip i have had during practicals is: better is the worst enemy of good enough, or stop before you screw it up.
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can't emphasize that enough. If you think it's good enough, hand it in! don't tinker around with it and regret it afterwards.
 
My wax up grades back when i was first year

margins -- 1
anatomy -- 1
occlusion - 5
polish - 5 (gotta love the nose grease -- haha) -- i passed waxing with like a 72 average
 
psiyung said:
My wax up grades back when i was first year

margins -- 1
anatomy -- 1
occlusion - 5
polish - 5 (gotta love the nose grease -- haha) -- i passed waxing with like a 72 average
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Wow...what was your grade out of 5? :laugh: At least you passed!

To the OP - When it gets o the point of being good, just be done with it. I destroyed my first max molar because l could make it better. Um. Yeah. I killed it and did really, really bad

The secret to waxing the posterior teeth is to drip a little bit of wax and then work it up. Carve a little, add a little more and do that until you like the way it looks. It will never, ever be perfect. The anteriors are sooooo easy to get perfect.

Wait until the molars. Worst things ever....🙁
 
rambo2006 said:
Any1 have any links to quick waxing techniques. I visited www.quicktoothwaxing.com but I guess the server is too busy 🙂

If you know any that would be really nice though
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1. u add wax to make the gross general shape of tooth

2.carve the contour of the tooth to get a better proportion of the shape of the tooth.

3. carve out the inclined planes of all the cusps and ridges. make sure cusps and ridges point to the right direction and have the right proportion.

4. add little wax to round off the inclined planes and carve to refine the proportion of the contour, cusps, and ridges. carve the fine details to make it look like the real thing. 😎
 
Definitely learn how to use the wax applicators, not for just adding the wax but for shaping the wax. Instead of constantly adding and carving the wax it is sometimes a lot easier to just heat the applicator, touch the wax up and then drag around the liquid wax to where you want it. Works great.
 
TucsonDDS said:
Definitely learn how to use the wax applicators, not for just adding the wax but for shaping the wax. Instead of constantly adding and carving the wax it is sometimes a lot easier to just heat the applicator, touch the wax up and then drag around the liquid wax to where you want it. Works great.
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Only after checking out SDN did I find out that some D-schools use applicater devices. At our school, we use these pick like instruments called a PKT2 and we heat it on an alcohol lamp and it sucks. Last year, students got to use bunsen burners, and now I hear about applicators....
 
rambo2006 said:
Only after checking out SDN did I find out that some D-schools use applicater devices. At our school, we use these pick like instruments called a PKT2 and we heat it on an alcohol lamp and it sucks. Last year, students got to use bunsen burners, and now I hear about applicators....
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Those are actually what we use as well. The PKT stands for PK Thomas and the 2 would be the size. Try to get your instructor to give you a quick 1 on 1 demo and the use of them will make a lot more sense and it will go a lot easier. I didn't like them at all and I pretty much used a #7 wax spatula all of last year. After watching one of our Prosth residents use the PK tools I tried them out and I actually now really enjoy waxing, it is way more relaxing than the majority of things we have to do in dental school. After you get good with the applicators you can get a wax up done in no time.
 
holy crap...i can't believe your teachers didn't tell you about pkt's. I am not sure the numbers we use but we have 2 with 2 points on each end. We have a really sharp point and they gradually get bigger to a larger point.

This is how I do it:

1. Place sticky wax all over the typodont tooth thet you will be waxing on, a nice thin layer.
2. Place your sticky waxed tooth into the typodont and get a visual of the mesial and distal contacts. In fact...if you want, heat your pkt get some wax on it and place it on the tooth where the contact will eventually be. That way you know where to place wax.
3. Pull your tooth out and add some wax to build up the contacts and marginal ridges.
4. After making them contact nice, build up the sides of the tooth. Build up the buccal and lingual and make them nice and proportionate.
5. Then place the tooth back in the typodont (you should be doing it often to make sure you are adding to the right places) and look at the cusps on the opposing teeth. Draw an imaginary line connecting all of these cusp tips. Your tips should fall on this line. Drip a little wax onto this line while it is in the typodont. Then take it out and add wax until they are nice and round. Next comes the carving.
6. We get to have the tooth we are waxing, our typodont and the tooth that would normally go in its place as a model. i hold up both teeth (my typodont real tooth and the wax up) and view their silhouettes. If I see anything differ from the typodont tooth on my wax up, i carve or add wax. I work one side at a time. Look at the mesial, then distal, then buccal then lingual.
Then I look at it from the occlusal. I check my embrasures, contacts, contours, etc.
7. Lastly I work on the occlusal surface. Place that wax up in the typodont and put the teeth together. Where ever there is contact i shave it away. I use my fine tipped pkt to draw general lines of anatomy in the tooth and then carve away with some other instrument.
8. I carve with a thin layer of vaseline on my instruments. Makes it easier. I shine with some vaseline and a paper towel folded up into a fine point. Soap works too, nose grease (but GROSS!), anything hydrophobic (same properties as wax) will shine it up.
9. Keep checking occlusion, canine guidance, etc.

Hope that helps. i am busy working on a DIY on my website below.
 
Dude I found that if you take a thin silk lens cleaner and wrap it around your Peter K 2, you can get into that occlusal anatomy and shine it up real nice. You cant wrap the pantyhose around it because it'll rip through. Sometimes its hard to get into those grooves and clean em out. Also do you guys use alcohol torches? those are pretty money, but you got to be careful!!
 
For those who have Bunsen burners, one fast method is to grab a Bunsen burner, turn it more or less upside down (at a 45 degree angle), stick the tip of the flame directly into your wax container, and melt it into a big puddle of drippy goo. Take the tooth and dip it in until you get a layer of wax coating the preparation. Repeat, adding more layers of wax, until you've finally got a clump of wax approximately the size of the actual tooth. At this point you just need to touch it up by carving and adding small amounts of wax.
 
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