Ron : one thing I am almost embarrassed by is that I have forgotten now what it is like to do dentistry without the scope. I hear now so many dentists who are concerned about doing quality work without jeopardizing their backs and necks to lean forward going to higher and higher mags.

THe magnification continuum ( magnification junkie is another word I hear) is something that leads to more and more magnification as we learn the value in seeing better.

I am a big proponent in scopes obviously but using a minimum of 2.5X power for lasers is a must in my opinion as the tips are so small its tough to see without the loupes.

I think that as you move up in magnification the light becomes increasingly crucial and one thing with the scope is the lighting is co-axial and that allows for no shadows.

I dont really use smooth diamonds very often (sometimes) but working at 10-16X power allows you to focus on the margins and get it where you JUST want it.

I often believe that we try our best to do good work but sometimes our eyes (not our hands) let us down. When we send better impressions to the lab which are prepared with magnification we get better results and I think the lab has to do less “fudging” of the margins.

I laughed yesterday because I have one awesome dental assistant who is very keen and knowledgeable now. We have the scopes in the operatories and there is a video going to a monitor for them to see what I am doing and this allows them to keep the suction out of the way for instance.

My assistant is looking at the monitor smiling as I am trying to get a canine crown to seat and I ask he what is so funny. She mentions that she knew the crown will seat as soon as I get the interproximal contact trimmed down because the gap at the margin is not smooth and the little individual indentations are about 2-3 degrees off on the crown compared to where the indentations should fit on the tooth. She could see the discrepancy visually and knew exactly why the crown wouldnt seat the whole way. I adjust a little more and bang…….down it went.

These crowns were the ones I did for that osseous recontouring case and I am going to summarize the case for everyone and post it in a minute…………..sooo to make a long story longer…………yes magnification and illumination (Xenon light on the scope is unreal) make it easier to do margins which are smooth to your eye but clinically there still are alot of little indentations and bumps so I have a LONG way to go before I get to perfection.

Thanks as usual and congrats on the 4.5X loupes, your laser dentistry patients are the winners in this whole equation!!

Glenn