Crown Prep

  1. Restorative cassette, bur bloc, load high-speed handpiece (covered with pouch if we are not sure whether the patient is coming or not), 3-way syringes (2), saliva and high volume suctions, place straight nose handpiece with a acrylic bur on side, one more acrylic bur in tray, prepare, not not open slow-speed handpiece in case we find a new but small caries in neighboring teeth
  2. Doctor’s tray: mirror, explorer, and cotton pliers, (3 cotton rolls, 1 2x2),
  3. Assistant’s tray: several more cotton rolls (a little more for lower tooth) and 2x2, short needle or long if the person is big and we work on a lower tooth, Xylocaine one to two carpules (Septocaine for lower tooth), thermoplastic wax for temp
  4. Cut appropriate length #0, and 1 (thin gums) or 1 and 2 (thick gums) gingival retraction cords.  Also look at the prep tooth to determine how long cords are needed
  5. Take out an appropriate triple tray, prep heavy and light body impression materials (load gun and apply mixing tube and intraoral tip), squeeze out a little bit of materials into 2x2 to test whether they flow properly (keep 2x2 to let doctor see this step having been done properly), if heavy body is low, load another tube of heavy body into gun, but not mixing tube.  Help doctor retract cheek while impression is being seated.  Set timer
  6. Place Jet kit on the counter in back table, including Vaseline
  7. When pt sits down and doctor is ready, bring ¼ cup of hot water to make wax impression for temporary crown and cover the cup to keep warm. Use pick-up forceps to hold the tab in the hot water until the tab becomes transparent and clear.  Remove the wax from the forceps.  We need another ¼ cup of hot water during Jet crown fabrication
  8. If we also do build-up, prepare slow-speed handpiece, etch, prime & bond, flowable (baseliner), gun or tube comp
  9. Choose shade with patient.  Write down pt’s name (initial ok) and shade type on note paper.  For anterior tooth, we may need to take photos for shade selection
  10. Remove small-sized gingival retraction cord after doctor thinks that the impression is good
  11. Save and clean (if necessary) unused materials including capules, cotton rolls, and 2x2
  12. Return Assistant Page

Xin Wei, DDS, PhD, MS 1st edition 05/19/2011, last revision 06/01/2011