Ronald Goldstein - (2012/01/23 13:48)

Farhan, My technique for polishing composite resins is as follows: 1. Contour and final finish with ET (Brasseler USA or BUSA ) diamonds and burs with final finishing always with the ETUF burs which are 30 blade carbides in either the ET design or the OS design for lingual or occlusal finishing. 2. Next I usually go to a series of sandpaper disc finishing to polish the contours so there are no hard angles. I always try to match the adjacent or opposing teeth and use a large front surface mirror rotating back and forth to give me a really good 3D look at the entire labial surface. This helps me eliminate and hidden depressions or incorrect line angles not easily seen just by looking at the tooth surface straight on. I generally use only the first 2 discs and wait to use the last 2. I always use a drop water to keep the discs wet...never dry. 3. Next, I use one of the impregnated polishing kits that have both point and cup shaped instruments always using water to keep from polishing dry. 4. Now I use the ET 6 or 9 to place my surface texture if the adjacent teeth have texture or if I feel I want to have more light reflection. 5. I finish with the last 2 discs or with the final impregnated bur or cup finisher just lightly going over the tooth surface but never to eliminate the texture but to highlight the raised areas more. If you pull up my Xpert page I have my articles on composite finishing there and could give you more about my feelings on the subject.

FARHAN DURRANI492 - (2012/01/22 9:47)

DEAR DR GOLDSTEIN PLEASE ELABORATE ON POLISHING TECHNIQUES

Ronald Goldstein - (2011/08/25 10:40)

Jack, adding composite to occlusal surfaces has been a very good treatment for class one and two restorations but when you try to build up an entire tooth it does have its limitations. I have done this as an interim step before committing the patient to restoring vertical dimension with ceramic restorations. However, chipping and fracturing of some of these restorations becomes the norm within a short time. Nevertheless, it is a very good way to help determine if your final prosthetic restorations will be successful and the TMJ will respond favorably. So, no, I would not suggest composite resin as a final full mouth restoration.

Jack Yang - (2011/08/25 7:16)

Dr. Goldstein, its Jack here from Australia. Im just wondering, what do you think of full mouth build up with composite? with regard to occlusion, how would you open the bite, if you are doing a erosion case, where most of the anterior teeth are all worn down. thanks