Simple Trick That Will Make Resin Cement Removal Easier
I wanted to share this technique to help all who have had trouble with cement clean up!
Teflon tape!!!!!!
In addition to placing Blue-Sep (by Parkell) to the contact areas of the Crown restoration, I stretch a 1-2” Teflon tape on the contacts of the adjacent teeth (intra-orally) prior to applying the bonding agent to the prepped tooth. I gently tuck the Teflon tape sub-sulcularly with an explorer at the contact area to form a seal. Then, I apply my bonding agent as directed, air dry the prep and then remove the Teflon before seating the crown restoration. Because the Bonding agent is a MAGNET for the Resin CEMENT, by making sure no bonding agent comes to contact with the contact area will make cement clean-up much easier.
Great thought! I love this stuff.
The smaller the teflon strips, the easier they are to handle, but this is a personal preference - I like 1/2-inch upwards to one inch--longer and they static cling to your fingers when you pull away.
Brian--you should just leave the tape in after all that hard work! Cement the restoration with take in place. Then pull the tape out buccal or lingual with gloved fingers (versus with cotton pliers, not versus with bare toenails) and any residual glosses out easily.
I'll admit that I put in the teflon tape after I etch and bond, then the teflon sticks easier and I don't blow the tape around after we evaporate the primer solvent.
Some day we'll meet in person, Toons!
Whatever works for everyone is fine. In my hands I find all these extra steps unnecessary. I didn't have that much trouble cleaning up Multilink, which is the real bad boy, and I have no trouble cleaning up Optibond XTR/NX3 or Scotchbond Universal/Rely X Ultimate. Good luck pulling teflon tape out of a tight contact if you leave it in place during bonding. I find all of this to be a lot of unnecessary fuss about something very trivial. Manage the situation properly (retraction cord in the sulcus and Dr. Rosenblatt's resin cleanup technique) and you will have no problems. But, ....different strokes for different folks.
