Imaging interproximal areas
I wanted to address the issue of imaging interproximal areas. There was another thread on this as well.
We always recommend to pitch the camera from the buccal and lingual and use a "pumping" action to get this. However, even doing this will give people difficulty.
The main issue is that if you have poorly contoured interproximal restorations (especially those which give high,sharp contact points), it's going to be nearly impossible to image apical to that.
You need to get in the habit of disking/polishing adjacent teeth.(I almost do it on every case where there is an adjacent interproximal restoration).
Here is an example of this:
Preop: tooth #30 needs crown
Look at the adjacent contours BEFORE polishing... you will have a terrible time filling in holes below those contact points
After polishing adjacent teeth
Interproximal areas captured properly:
Hope this helps!
Also, there may be a thin layer of debris on the interproximal. I fold a gauze 2x2 into a strip and rub it side to side like a finishing strip. That cleans the surface and makes it more responsive.
Rix
