Dr Ali Hassan talks through how the First Fit system has helped him to perfect his porcelain veneers workflow.
First Fit is an established protocol to provide porcelain veneers, harnessing the power of digital dentistry.
The First Fit system allows two different workflows, a one-step approach, and a two-step approach. In the one-step, the final restorations are produced prior to preparation of the teeth for veneers utilising a digital prep and, as a result, no provisional restorations are required.
Tooth borne 3D printed guides allow a special hand-piece and burr to prepare the teeth following the digital prep exactly, in much the same way as guided implantology uses a guide to place the implant exactly. This approach is indicated whenever a feather-edge/vertical preparation can be used and in additive and semi-additive cases.
Planned digital preparation
In the two-step approach, the reduction guides are used to help the incisal and facial preparation and the interproximal and cervical preparation are finished freehand. Meaning the clinician can define finish lines according to his or her preference and the case indications.
For example, in discoloured teeth, which require cervical preparation or any other case, which demands interproximal reduction, a finish line is mandatory. Traditional impressions can then be made and sent to the laboratory or the preparations can be scanned with a digital intraoral scanner and sent digitally to the technician.
3D-printed or milled pro-visional veneers that have been previously produced based on the planned digital preparation can then be relined and cemented with flowable composite to allow the patient to have normal function while the restorations are fabricated at the laboratory.
In the second phase, the final restorations are cemented in the usual way.
Time saving
An article in the International Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry gives more details:
- Laminate veneers: Preplanning and treatment using digital guided tooth preparation
- Pereira da Silva, Stanley and Gardee.
The First Fit course provided exclusively by Avant Garde dentistry with speakers Dr Jameel Gardee and Dr Robbie Hughes. A full day explaining the system in detail, followed by a live patient showing all the stages and finally a hands on component allows delegates to be fully certified in the systems use by the course end.
A delegate from the First Fit course said: ‘Looking at the protocols they were talking about today, I think it’s really exciting as the amount of time I’m going to save, and the effort and stress that is taken out of it seems really attractive.
‘I can’t wait to try it in a patient’s mouth, but doing it on the patient model today has been amazing. This course is totally different from anything else that is out there, very exciting concept and opened my eyes to what is possible in digital dentistry.’
For more details about upcoming courses in 2022, visit the website www.avantgardedentistry.co.uk/first-fit.
