PrepSure

While many practitioners rely on their own techniques to achieve proper occlusal, buccal, lingual, and
gingival clearances, it’s not a perfect science, and inadequate clearance can lead to lab redos, early
crown fractures, and ultimately, more chair time for patients. Those issues are a thing of the past for Dr.
David Martin, who has virtually eliminated over- and under-reduction with ContacEZ's PrepSure. Here, he
explains how this set of ergonomically designed instruments makes crown prep easy and predictable.

In our hectic workflows, there’s zero room for error. Not only are mistakes dangerous for patients, but they put a drain on our practice efficiency. Especially when it comes to getting an accurate occlusal clearance for crown preps, dentists need perfection every single time. Most of us either use the naked eye or rely on techniques developed over the years.

For example, my go-to technique was to place tabs on patients and instruct them to bite down. If the tabs dragged, I knew more reduction was needed. The problem was that I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where the lack of space was located—I just knew the prep was in need of more reduction. Once I started using PrepSure, all that guesswork disappeared.

“It’s a great way to ensure I have enough clearance for whichever material I’m using to restore the tooth."

There's a Better Way

PrepSure is a set of ergonomic instruments that can help you achieve proper occlusal, buccal, lingual, and marginal clearance for accurate and efficient crowns and onlays. Autoclavable and available in 1-, 1.5-, and 2-mm tip sizes, PrepSure has a doubleended design with mesial and distal end tips that easily glide through the prepared tooth surface to detect high spots and prevent overreduction. This 2-sided design allows me to evaluate buccal and lingual reduction independently so I know exactly where to reduce.

I use PrepSure on most of my posterior indirect preparations, and it’s very useful with full and partial restorations, too. It’s a great way to ensure I have enough clearance for whichever material I’m using to restore the tooth. I am no longer dependent upon visual confirmation to determine if I have enough clearance for the final restoration. PrepSure also reduces the time it takes to verify reduction, which is much easier on the patient.

Final Thoughts

The end result? With PrepSure, there are fewer remakes and calls from the lab telling me that more reduction is needed. There are also fewer fractures. My preps are more accurate, which means I can provide my patients with better restorations that have a long life and great functionality. Perhaps the biggest benefit of PrepSure is that it's a more comfortable procedure for patients that saves chair time—two features that significantly improve my patient relationships.