DRAKE DENTAL TALKS

OBTU, SAY WHAT? Before working in the dental lab, I had never given much thought to a palatal obturator.  Before working with Dr. Amit Paryag, I had never seen a restorative dentist with such fire and keenness toward patient and product perfection - "patient centered care", as he refers to it.  When the two rolled in to one for us at Drake, something momentous was born.  DID YOU KNOW? In 1560 Lusitanus was probably the first to describe what is today known as palatal obturator used for permanent luetic fistula of the palate ( 2 ).  In 1564 Ambroise Parè called his small obturators “couvercles”, and in 1575 changed the name to “obturateur" which is derived from the Latin “obturo” meaning to stop up .  In 1634, Johson translated Parè’s “surgery”, published for king Henri the third. The text described an appliance to restore the palatal defect caused by venereal diseases and gunshot wounds.  In order to create his o...

Patients With Terminal Dentitions   ......................... How to Avoid Extracting Teeth Before Immediate Denture Fabrication So, you have a patient in the chair whose teeth move around like a piano player.  Its always a miracle some of the teeth don’t fall out when they sneeze.  Your plan is to take an alginate impression to send to the lab for fabrication of immediate denture.  Only problem is, there is no assurance that some of the teeth wont come out in the impression.  First and foremost, it is not your fault that the patient has waited to seek treatment.  Be sure you explain that you will make every effort not to perform unintended oral surgery.  That said, sometimes even with best efforts, these teeth will come out during the impression.  Please follow on to see how I have been dealing with these cases. You will need: A good stock tray. (I like the COE Spacer trays) PVS adhesive Alginate Adhesive Fast Set, Heav...

WET MILLING e.Max To go with our video clip, here is a neat little article from IDT   about milling machines.  It explains a few basic workings and some comparative details - including wet versus dry. At Drake, we do both - different options for different configurations, different materials, and different outcomes.  If you want to know more, give us a call! You can never be armed with too much knowledge.