The opinions and photographs within this web page are not ours.
Authors have been credited for the individual posts where they are.
- Photos courtesy of Glen Van As - www.rxroots.com
Hi there folks: I have been asked over the last few days by a couple of people why
I even need to reflect tissue for a Class V composite which is situated at the
gingival crevice either just slightly supra or sub gingival.
Today I did this case where there was root caries on a young 30 year old male who
didnt want any anesthetic. ( I did a premolar on one side and the first molar on
the opposite lower molar so working on both sides in one appointment makes it easier
to do for the patient if one or both restorations can be done without anesthetic).
I tried using silk cord to reflect the tissue without any success as you can see the
tissue was still covering the gingival margin or close enough to it that sulcular
crevicular fluids would jeopardize the final restoration.
I actually reduced the gingival tissue with settings of 20 Hz and 45 mj ( patient
felt it at 30Hz and 50 mj) without bleeding and was able to restore the tooth
without any anesthetic.
The patient said that he only rated the pain as between 0-2 outta 100.
(zero on this side).
I used a flowable anesthetic and didnt adjust the occlusion on this case at all.
I left the silk cord in as I was reducing the tissue to protect the tooth structure
and it worked out pretty good.
Hope you enjoy it and take care. - Glenn
Laser case - root caries
