THE EDITOR'S CORNER
The following method of organizing your cementation will allow you to cement a full upper and lower arch in six minutes or less with little, if any, cement on your fingers:
1. Use a piece of ¾" X 1¼'' masking tape over the occlusal surface of the band.
2. Make a chart of bracket positions during cementation.
Making Your Own Chart
The chart should be custom-designed to your own banding habits, including the position in which the assistant stands or sits when passing you the bands and the position in which you sit or stand when placing the bands in the patient's mouth. The numbers on the chart indicate the teeth in each quadrant and the arrows indicate the direction in which the bracket is facing when the assistant is looking directly forward at the chart with her thumb extended, holding the band on the tape.
[show_img]576-jco-img-0.jpg[/show_img]The way to establish this position is to work backward from the mouth to the slab. Begin by holding the tape with the band over the tooth as though you were preparing to place the band on the tooth. Then pass the tape to the assistant, being sure that your thumb is facing her thumb directly (tip-to-tip). This is a key point.
[show_img]576-jco-img-2.jpg[/show_img]Next, the assistant turns toward the chart and marks an arrow on the chart at the appropriate number indicating the direction in which the bracket is pointing. You will get the band back in the proper position to be placed on the tooth without having to stop and figure out which way the band should be held in order to position it correctly. The thumb-to-thumb pass is most important to make the chart effective.
An additional timesaver is to have the assistant lay the bands on the tapes with the brackets in proper direction before she fills the bands with cement. This will make the passing procedure much faster.
[show_img]576-jco-img-3.jpg[/show_img]These two procedures will reduce your cementation time and cleanup time considerably.
