A Chipped Tooth, Some Holes On A Tray and My First Time With Amalgam

Here’s a long overdue post about what I’ve been up to during my practical classes! 🙂 Those of you who knew what I got up to during the weekend will just have to wait one or two more days before I put up the next entry. Patience! While some of you might find this boring, there are still other dental students(Hello Sohpoh!!) who wanna know what I’m learning about towards the end of my second year.

A couple of weeks ago, we were thought how to restore class 4 cavities. It’s like a small chip on the side of one of the anterior teeth.

However, mine broke off by itself because of some faulty restorations I did from the class before…I think. can you see the chipped tooth? It’s the one in the middle. We were supposed to rebuild the tooth to its original shape.

And that’s me restoring it bit by bit. Very ugly I know. Wait lah, I’ll polish it soon!

Eeew. But at least the shape is there!

Another shot of the tooth back in it’s original shape…. once again, I think.

After trying my very best to polish it. As you can see, I didn’t do that great a job.

In the dental technology lab, we had to finish with the perforations with our special tray. This is to take a second impression of the patient’s dentition, with higher accuracy! The holes are so that the impression material will flow down and lock itself(upon hardening) so that it won’t flow so much….I think.

With the help of the round bur, we made many holes all over the tray! Very fun:D It was satisfying to poke through the acrylic. Mmm.

Ahhh..at long last. After learning and hearing so much about amalgam and its controversies, we finally had the chance to get down and dirty with this hazardous mercurified(i created that word) materials.

This was the chosen tooth to do my amalgam restoration on. Previously, I’ve already used fissure sealant on it before. 🙁 I want new teeth to practice on! Have I mentioned that I managed to collect 50+ teeth from the dental clinics in Subang during my trips back home?:) I’m adding it to the (soon to be) vast collection that Lie Yuen and I will share together. I’m thinking of using a nice clear wine bottle to store all the teeth in. Makes a nice decoration! Who would have thought that rotten teeth is artistic?:)

We had to start off by making a small pit in the middle of the fissures.

This is the pear shaped bur that I would then use to run along the fissures(the lines on the surface of the tooth) to make my cavity.:)

This is the amalgam in its capsule, getting a good shake before being dispensed out for me to fill the cavity with. I don’t think it is called centrifuge..because this is like in a horizontal motion..so yeah, go figure. *shrugs* The materials are actually being mixed inside the capsule to form the amalgam paste.

The amalgam is then picked up using the amalgam carrier.

It’s like a syringe where the amalgam gets expelled into the cavity.

And here I am, condensing the amalgam!

Smoothening it out with a ball burnisher! It makes the amalgam more shiny.

Time for a little camwhoring break.

After that, the fissures are recreated on the amalgam by using a carver.

Continue touching up with a ball burnisher!

See, it’s getting a little shiny. And yes, I realise it gets a little messy.

It’s all part of the tooth now! I know its very messy.. I’m not that skilled yet. Go away. 🙁

I just like the shine of the lamp on my gloved hand. 😉

Since you’re all so kind, here’s treating you to another angle of my amalgam restored tooth.

 
After packing up, I went to disturb Poh Yee.

Just because I’m proud of it! My first amalgam filled tooth! Amalgam is easier to use than the composite materials(which is apparently much safer than amalgam). Sigh. It’s just too bad that amalgam is hazardous.

So hazardous that it even has to be disposed off properly and not into the drain or dustbin like everything else.

And here’s a tiny prelude to my weekend back home – I was seated at the lower level of the double decker bus. I didn’t know it had a smaller seating area on the lower level and there’s this walk way with padded panels to the seats. I propped my legs up comfortably for the entire ride. 🙂 I felt like I was in a freaking limo.