Now Your Assistant Can Create a Precision
Temporary Bridge in the Time It Takes You to Make
the Master Impression

by Nelson Gendusa, DDS
Director - Research

I wish I could take credit for this technique. But the truth is, I learned it from Dr. Edward Schlissel (Professor and Chair of the Department of General Dentistry at SUNY Stony Brook.) He tells me that too many dentists-to-be fail the provisional bridge portion of their boards.

In an effort to help his students avoid open margins, he developed a great little indirect technique that works beautifully for real patients as well as the models used on the board exams. It’s very fast ... and so simple that a good assistant can fabricate accurate provisional bridges with almost no learning curve.


Step 1: Before tooth preparation, take a preliminary alginate impression. As soon as the impression is removed, spray it with debubblizer. Step 2: While you prepare the teeth, your assistant injects Mach-2 instant-setting die silicone. She pours the abutments ... the teeth adjacent to the abutments ... and the edentulous ridge to be spanned by the pontics. Step 3: She immediately extrudes Blu-Mousse Super-Fast over the Mach-2 to create a base. (There’s no need to fill the entire impression or use the plastic base formers that come with the Mach-2 kit.)
Step 4: Two minutes later, she removes the model. Step 5: She selects a denture tooth or plastic crown-former that just fills the gap between the crowns. (If it doesn’t stay in place by friction, tack it in place with a little sticky wax.) Step 6: She places a heated plastic sheet over the model, and creates a vacuum-formed template.*
*If you don’t have a vacuum machine you can make the template in the mouth by luting the denture tooth into the gap and taking a quick Blu-Mousse impression.
Step 7: She cuts the plastic template from the model taking care to cut well below the crown margins. Dr. Schlissel reports that with a little care, a stiff Robinson® Bristle brush will cut the plastic (without damaging the model.) Step 8: When you have finished prepping the abutment teeth ... Step 9: take another alginate impression.
Step 10: While you begin the master impression, your assistant makes another Mach-2 model. Since she doesn’t have to trim or separate dies, it shouldn’t take more than 2½ minutes to produce the model. Step 11: Temporary crown resin is placed into the template. Do not fill molds of the teeth adjacent to the abutments. We’re using Snap® here. Lubricate the gloves with petroleum jelly to prevent sticking. Step 12: She places the overfilled template onto the Mach-2 model and pushes it down until the resin squishes beyond the margins and the template seats fully on the adjacent teeth.
Step 13: She wraps a rubber band around the assembly so the bridge will set under pressure. Now if you just let the model sit there for 10 minutes, you’ll have an excellent provisional bridge. Step 14: But Dr. Schlissel takes it one step further. As soon as he’s confirmed that the template is properly positioned on the model, he puts the whole assembly into a pressure pot with warm water for 5 minutes. Step 15: The completed bridge after trimming. Ready for try-in and minor adjustments.
Have a technical question best answered by a fellow Dentist? E-mail your questions directly to our Director of Clinical Research, Dr. Nelson Gendusa, DDS. (Click here) for more information.