I Did It.

I cut on a tooth. The assistant handed me the high speed handpiece with a 169L bur and I cut into a maxillary 2nd molar (#2 to be exact). The total crown prep took around 1.5 hr with packing cord and trying to smooth the insanely deep distal margin that I'm still not sure is good enough. The rest of the 3 hr appt was vitals, injections, making the provisional and 2 impressions, and getting approval and advice from my professor.

Thank God for a great (patient) patient! I'll find out how well it really went Monday when I pull the casts from the 2 impressions we took. And I'm anxious to call my patient on Monday to see if his temporary stayed on over the weekend. I got a "well done" and a "pretty good job" from my prof. Not bad, I guess.

Everything else, I'd done before: injections, impressions, even making temporaries. I didn't think there would be any decay since he'd already had a root canal, post and build up, so it was a bit of a surprise when I broke mesial contact and found some soft, tan, diseased dentin. But I got it all out and got it covered well, so we should be good until I can wax up and cast his gold crown. My patient and I are hoping the next time I see him is to put the crown on, and that I won't have to bring him back to smooth out that margin. But I know I'm learning and certainly can't expect my first live crown prep on an insanely-hard-almost- deemed-non-restorable tooth to be perfect the first time around. I do kinda wish my prof would have "fixed" anything questionable for me so my pt wouldn't have to come back...they do that all the time. Que sera. I've jumped off the cliff and I'm no longer a restoration virgin. Well, at least I'm half way there. Gotta cast a crown.