After learning how to use hand rests properly and taking them into heart, the next step is to start working with the typodont.

But before we jump into doing cavity preparations, first we must develop dexterity (or hand skills). Students who immediately perform cavity or crown preparations without considering to develop good dexterity will somehow repeat the same wrong patterns on every work. In other words, if you have not yet addressed much about how your hands are shaking too much, or have not yet grasp the tactile sense while working, or how to control the movement of the bur across the tooth, etc., this will directly translate to errors on your preparations. Considering that the tooth is very soft compared to the natural tooth, a slight shake or unnecessary movement will produce mistakes that will be very much evident.

Though it may seem in the beginning that you are not doing any progress, be patient. Developing dexterity will not only help you pass the bench test but it will also help you all throughout your entire practice.

Case Scenario: Working on multiple preps without established good dexterity.

Take a look at this scenario. When preparing for the bench test, anyone could take it as a very big issue or like a very big problem to tackle. So, they immediately take a handpiece and prepare everything in one go. As a result, they send in many preps that have the same mistakes on all of them. They keep on sending preps that have the same mistakes as before. So, what is the problem? Well, just like in real life, if you handle big issues, the most efficient way to get a solution is to solve it through small steps. Find the solution by first tackling smaller chunks of that problem until you solve everything as a whole.

In preparing for the bench test, it is better not to tackle it immediately by preparing so many cavity or crown preps. The issue on quantity vs. quality enters here. No matter how you much teeth you prepare, when there is no quality in everything that you work, everything is will be a total mistake. You waste teeth, you waste effort. So before tackling anything, you must first learn the basics like establishing very good hand skills. With a very good set of hand skills, you can be good at any preparation that any examiner could throw at you; you will have no problems at doing a cavity or a crown prep. Even if there are major changes or modifications of the guidelines or the dimensions, you will definitely be okay.

Tips on Bur Movement

So how do you establish good hand skills, anyway? First is to get a “feel” on how to use the handpiece on a typodont tooth. Prepare class 1 cavity preps while also keeping a very firm hand rest. Take a look on this video that enumerates everything about how to move your bur and how to develop the right skills before tackling on any preparation.:

[s3mediastream]s3streamingvideo,,1,0,0,bench_test_mastery_2017+2-4-1-tips-on-bur-movement-and-developing-hand-skills.mp4,,3600,,,,bottom-left,,no,,,yes,bottom,,,,,no,no,no,internationaldentistcentral,0[/s3]

Practice Demo on Typodont

[video to be added]