Course overview

It has long been established that tooth isolation using rubber dam is mandatory in restorative dentistry. However, this concept is sometimes difficult to apply in busy every day practice. Research consistently shows that rubber dam is not prevalent in general dentists’ practice, largely due to the cumbersome nature of the technique. This half-day course offers clinical tips and tricks for easier dam placement in different clinical situations and revisits the importance of tooth isolation from the evidence-based standpoint.

Topics

• Single tooth and multiple teeth isolation
• Winged versus wingless clamps
• Placing matrices in challenging situations
• Isolating subgingival area
• Split-dam and liquid dam for faster isolation
• Dam inversion and stabilization with floss ligatures

Learning objectives

Upon successful completion of this course the dentist should be able to:

• Perform single tooth and multiple teeth isolation including quadrant isolation
• Speed-up dam placement with out-of-mouth set preparation techniques for winged and wingless clamps
• Achieve isolation with sub gingivally localized proximal box
• Speed up dam placement with split-dam and liquid dam application
• Perform dam inversion for better moisture control and dam stabilization using different floss ligature techniques