DuraTemp: It's All In The Planning

The age of social media has increased the speed and scope of our ability to express our satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the organizations with which we engage. This is true in dentistry when it comes to meeting our patients’ aesthetic demands.

Patients often are driven by their desired esthetic outcomes and do not have a clear understanding of the possible limitations. Clinicians are challenged to manage the patient’s desired esthetic expectations and the functional structural limitations that each case may present. One of the best tools available when working out a treatment plan is creating a prototype or provisional of the proposed restorations.

The Benefits of Provisionals

Provisionals help to provide an intermediate solution for the patient while the final restorations are being fabricated. However, they also provide an opportunity to gauge exactly the patient’s esthetic expectations. Provisionals can be made to determine the desired shape, color, function, and tissue response.

In addition, provisionals uncover any occlusal issues. The knowledge gained from the evaluation of the provisional restorations can then be communicated to the lab to incorporate into the final product.

A provisional is used to temporarily hold a spot both vertically and horizontally while a permanent tooth is being fabricated. This helps prevent tooth movement and helps to bring the patient to normal function. Also, provisionals help to prevent bacterial exposure on the natural tooth’s surface as they protect the exposed dentin.

DuraTemp Provisionals by Burbank Dental Lab provides the following:

Case Planning Steps

Fabricating the provisional begins with determining the patient’s desires and concerns as clearly as possible. This is done by thoroughly understanding what the patient wants.

This step can be accomplished by having the patient bring in pictures of smiles they find attractive and looking through dental smile design guides. There are a variety of quick chairside smile mock-up products that can help to pinpoint the desired outcome more accurately, as well as computer imaging to provide a digital mock-up.

Once an understanding has been reached, a wax-up is created to incorporate the patient’s desired outcome with their actual oral situation.

To begin this process, Burbank Dental Lab requires the following:

1. Take accurate impressions using either traditional methods or digital scanning methods.
2. Record accurate bite registrations.
3. Record the patient’s correct horizontal plane. This can be captured using a Kois Dento-facial analyzer.

Once the case has been set up either traditionally or digitally the designing process can begin.

A visual rendering of the patient’s desired outcome is created either through a hand-processed wax-up or through a digital mock-up.

From these mock-ups, DuraTemp provisionals can be fabricated in the lab, or a matrix is created for use chairside.

Now the patient has the ability to try in the smile before the actual permanent restorations are made.

DuraTemp Provisionals

The accuracy of the temporary restorations is an important factor in ensuring the patient has a positive experience with the entire restorative procedure.

The clear benefits of using DuraTemp provisionals include:

DuraTemp Provisionals Act As A Prototype of the Final Restorations

DuraTemp provisionals act as a prototype of the final restorations. The patient should wear their provisionals for several days to ensure they are satisfied and happy with the design.

There are some cases where the provisionals are tried in and the case is accepted at the same time; however, this is not always advised. This is especially true in cases where there are changes proposed to the vertical dimension.

In cases where VDO is changed, the patient should wear the prototype to determine how well they will be able to tolerate the new changes. The temporaries will provide a test run of not only the VDO but the occlusion and new mandibular positioning to help determine if the patient will be comfortable with new restorations.

DuraTemp provisionals help to eliminate any surprises that may arise at the final insertion of the permanent restorations. Both the clinician and patient will already have a clear idea of the final outcome both in terms of esthetics and function. In cases where a provisional is not provided the patient may not have a clear understanding of what the final restorations will look or feel like. This can significantly impact the patient’s overall satisfaction level. It is also one of the biggest reasons for having to make adjustments or even remakes.

With the provisionals, any adjustments can be made either directly to the provisional or just noted to be incorporated into the final restorations. It is important to take pictures of the approved provisionals in the mouth as well as send a model of the temps in place to the lab. The approved provisionals can now act as a blueprint for the lab to use in the fabrication of the final restorations.

Creating systems within the dental practice to help ensure patients are satisfied with their dental treatments is increasingly important in the age of social media messaging. DuraTemps by Burbank Dental Lab provide the capability to create a high-level prototype of a patient’s esthetic desires and oral structural possibilities. It gives the clinician and patient a tool to communicate the possibilities and to have them approved before treatment begins.

Contact the Smiles by Design Team at Burbank Dental Lab to get started on your next case.