A note on Bridge sectioning

I was assisting a colleague sectioning a bridge the other day and had a few thoughts:

-Sectioning a bridge is a procedure done in an attempt to salvage the prosthodontic work. You should never promise that this is possible, only that you will try. In this case, the tooth that was to be extracted was the abutment that was holding on the whole bridge and the remainder of the bridge dislodged showing severe caries and food packing around the other abutments. This needs to be part of your consent process! You will try and preserve the remainder of the bridge and teeth but this may not be possible. If they don't want to proceed knowing this then you don't take the risk.
-Tie a floss tight around the part of the bridge that you want to keep. In this case once the bridge section was complete the remainder of the bridge dislodged and fell to the back of the patient's throat. We caught it before it was swallowed but this risk is unnecessary. Tying floss around one of the connectors and attaching it taut to the bib chain is a safe way to prevent this from happening.
-Pay attention to where you are sectioning. He started in the right place at the distal of the tooth to be retained but started slipping further back to the middle of the pontic. This takes so much longer because he is travelling towards the thickest part of the bridge which takes the longest to cut through. Aim to have some safety margin but be as close as possible to where you want to end up