Light-Curing Solution for Provisional Restorations

During the fabrication of provisional restorations, it's not uncommon to use a visible light-curing oven, such as Triad or Procure from Great Lakes. These units may be used to polymerize composite additions and/or repairs, composite stains – as well as a glaze layer, such as Palaseal.



 

A simple trick for provisional restorations...

While nearly essential to the fabrication process of provisional restorations, one problem plagued me for years; how could I place the restoration inside the oven in such a way that light could reach the provisional restoration without compromising the new layer?

For years I struggled with this. And then, one day, my friend Jeff Oyama showed me a simple technique that blew my mind. Building on the firing tray and peg system we were already using in our ceramics lab (Fig. 1), Jeff took a simple paper clip, bent it into the shape and dimension that he wanted – and then used the wire-form as a firing peg for the light-curing oven. (Fig. 2)

Genius!


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