Using hot blade to remove excess is more efficient, and for final finish take a fresh blade and scalpel all around.You will get nice shiny finish and better looking product.
HELLO!!! I keep getting a plastic crease on a tooth when I start suction and drop down my essex material. May I ask what I am doing wrong? Thank you sooooo much!!!!
That happens to me when I let the Essix material get too saggy before I drop it onto the cast. To avoid that, I let the material sag less than an inch (less than 2.5 cm) then turn on the vacuum and drop the material onto the cast. Please let me know if that does NOT solve your problem. ☺️👍
You might also try to not drop the sagging plastic down into the model so fast . Go slower and that has helped me. It happens to almost everyone sinner or later.
The biggest problem I have is removing the tray from the models. Even after the block out. Do you use any model separator? But will that clog the air from sucking through the model?
I do not currently use any kind of separating agent on the models. I have used food grade silicone spray before but I didn’t notice a huge difference so I stopped using it. To help the trays come off the cast I trim off the distal of the most distal molars and use a wax spatula to pry the tray off the cast, starting at the distal of the most distal molars. The incisal edges almost always break off, no matter what I do. 🤷♂️
Hi, trying to figure out why am I getting the inside of the retainer looking cloudy or foggy, but just on some areas. Do you use a separator agent like silicone spray? How dry should the model be? Like same day pour or wait one day to have a dryer model? Thanks.
Great question! I find that I get bubbles in the material if I heat it up too fast. For example, if I make several Essix retainers in a row the material may start to get tiny bubbles in it after the third or fourth retainer. I think it's because the heating coils are already very hot from the start of the heating process rather than starting cold and heating up slowly like on the first two retainers. I solve this by not putting the material as close to the heating coils during the heating process once the coils are very hot. About 2/3 of the way up toward the coils seems to work well for me. I hope that helps! 🤓👍
That would probably work just fine. I will sometimes use Play-Doh if I run out of block out resin. 😂 It takes more time to apply, but is much much cheaper than the block out resin. 🤷♂️
Also, blocking out the areas between the teeth can be done easiest and cheapest by trimming the impression before you pour it up in stone. I show how to do this in my video about how to pour up an impression. That way, the undercuts get blocked out by the poured up stone and you don’t have to block it out with any other material. Fast, easy, and very cheap! 😎👍
