By Bob, I think you hit on it. If you look at the preop photo, there is a small abfraction area. This tooth takes a little bit of a hit in protrusive. Maybe that is why?! I will definitely make notes of this as I continue.
Al, I like the roughness of the prep, I feel it gives me much more surface area for the bonding of the veneer. Also, I asked Ross Nash about that, being that he really seems to know about veneers, and he agreed with me, BUT I would like to see a study done of how the internal stresses interiorly affect the tooth upon light polymerization of the cement under the veneer. I can only say that in ALL cases I have done, there is absolutely NO post op sensitivity, unlike when I used a high speed and a diamond for the same preps. Thanks everyone!!!
Mark

I agree with you Al. I will try the anesthetic the way you do it. It sounds like a GREAT way to do that!!! You guys always help me out! Thanks.
Mark

Mark…….you know what I admire most about you other than your pushing the envelope with crown preps. (did you get my private email thanking you for the article you sent me……I read it all and was impressed by the relative smoothness of the preps actually).

The thing I admire is your professional nature in asking pointed and well thought out questions.

Mark, until recently I had forgotten what the most difficult teeth to see with loupes are and it is the upper 2nd and 3rd molars. You block out the light with your head trying to see, you crane over at ridiculous angles to see and still cant manage to get a clear view particularly in decreased opening cases.

With the scope the hardest teeth to see are the lower first molars and 2nd premolars. Its the angle you view with the scope.

You need to use indirect mirrors alot with the scope ( even in the lower arch) but if you are used to using mirrors then it is easy easy to see the last teeth. I have very small mirrors I use at high mag to view things.

I have cases which show me prepping MO and even DOs at times on third molars.

I will post in a minute a case I did where I restored a lesion which was on the DB line angle of the maxillary left third molar which was subgingival. I did it with anesthetic at the patients request and I didnt shoot a photo until the prep was done.

In closing Mark, there are many factors associated with the learning curve and they are as follows…..I know the answers in your case but for others.
1. Do you use magnification now.
2. How long have you used them.
3. What magnifications do you use now.
4. When you want to look at the linqual of the lower left molar, how do you view it? Do you move yourself or do you move the patient .
5. Do you use mirrors routinely? ( for both arches or only the maxilla)
6. Do you trim your own dies under a scope.
7 Did you use a microscope lots in the past such as in an undergraduate microbiology program.

If you practice standup dentistry , dont use mirrors, never have used magnification, dont ever move the patient or the mirrors and only move yourself to see, never have used a microscope then the learning curve is going to be steep and long.(PErhaps a year)

If you are committed to change, have some of the features above then you may find your learning curve to be as short as a month.

I was routinely using the microscope for most procedures at around 3 months and I had only used 2.5X mag routinely and only mirrors in the maxillary arch.

The documentation is second to none.

Finally with the scope you have to learn to move the handpiece out of the way to see. The scope will otherwise see the back of the handpiece so I like the Continuum laser handpiece which is like a pen. If you have a long tip on the laser then it is irrelevant ( I use alot of surgical length burs to move the handpiece out of the way of viewing.)

I hope this gives you some insight into using a scope.

You can always come to my office for free and watch, or combine it with a course that I am giving. I am doing one in December (7th ) at the University of British Columbia and one in March 5-8th ( not sure of the exact date) at the provincial dental meeting in Vancouver. These are both lectures with hands on workshops.

Let me know if I can be of any help.

Glenn

Ron, was overcast here when I tried the palatal technique:

Air/Water was 65/55%.

Glenn, you aren’t the only one that is happy. My main problem was there were serious problems with my laser(and like I’ve said b4 think this was the case when the laser was delivered). Once I got the laser fixed it works great!!!!!

Al