Fabrication of Provisional Restoration Using Direct Technique

Abstract Dental students learning fixed prosthodontics should have the conceptual understanding and procedural skills that allow them to prepare teeth for full coverage restorations and also to fabricate provisional restorations for these teeth. Fabrication of a provisional restoration is a clinical skill that a dental student should be able to demonstrate. This resource provides a stepwise approach to learning how to fabricate provisional restorations for full gold and porcelain fused to metal crowns. Faculty can use this module as an adjunct to their teaching. The module can provide faculty members who have different teaching styles with a consistent method of making provisional restorations that achieve desirable results and meet the evaluation criteria. This module is used by dental students in a preclinical setting. It is intended to allow self-guided and self-paced instruction with or without the assistance of faculty. In order for the module to be employed, students should be proficient in the fundamentals, principles, and skills involved in preparing typodont teeth for full coverage restorations. This resource should be thoroughly reviewed before beginning the restoration fabrication procedures and should be followed step-by-step to achieve the goals of successful provisional fabrication. The purposes of each characteristic of an ideal restoration should be reviewed and learned prior to fabrication so that the evaluation criteria can be used effectively. This resource has been utilized in the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry preclinical Fixed Prosthodontic course for the past 2 years. Students are given a lecture about this procedure and then allowed to use this resource during their preclinical laboratory time to fabricate provisional restorations. This resource is supplemented by faculty feedback; however, this feedback time can be more effectively spent addressing specific questions and/or pitfalls rather than setting up and providing live demonstrations. Students appreciate having detailed, step-by-step instructions to follow even in the absence of faculty