How to Separate Provisionals and Not Lose Contact

One of the things I love most about continuing education and coming to the Spear campus for courses is the interaction with other dentists from around the world. All of these dentists are striving to improve themselves, their practices and ultimately the care for their patients.

One of the nicer perks of being around a lot of like-minded professionals is the opportunity to pick up and share some pearls, whether they are directly related to the course or not.

At a recent meeting at Spear, I was speaking with a fellow colleague about separating provisionals while maintaining your contact.  Personally, I have been doing this technique for a many years, but it was something that this colleague found valuable and started putting it into use in their practice.

When I used to separate provisionals, I would do so by using a separating disc but I still ended up with an open contact that I would now have to manage by adding back to it.  Even using thinner discs like the Vision Flexi Disc from Brassler didn’t change the outcome.

One day, I came up with the idea of taking the separating disc almost all of the way through the contact, but just stopping short of it, and actually fracturing the provisional into two pieces. This left me with two provisionals that when I put them side by side, still had a contact. After doing this technique for a while, here are some tips that I have found to make the break predictable and successful:

1. Make your cut from gingival up, and make sure you take the disc from the gingival aspect to within 2 – 3mm of the coronal aspect.

2. Score the occlusal contact area to create a marginal ridge area. This allows the stress you are forcing onto the provisional to concentrate and fracture in the right spot.

3. When you flex the provisional, do it in a manner that will cause it to break from the occlusal down versus the gingival up area. In my experience, the margins can break at times which will require you to repair this area instead of simply repairing an area on the occlusal surface.

4. When trimming and contouring your two provisionals, stay away from the “shiny” area; this is your contact/breaking point. Now you’re ready to create the perfect contact point the next time you are separating your provisionals.

Jeff Lineberry DDS, Visiting Faculty, Spear Education www.jefflineberrydds.com