Tom Giblin's Denture course Day 1

Today I attended Day 1 of 2 of Tom Giblin's Denture course. It was combined lectures and live patient demonstration. He demonstrated a soft liner material in the patient's existing denture and its use in taking a functional impression which could be used to reline the denture or to pour up a master cast in the process of making a new denture. He showed the impression technique he uses for full dentures: the Massad technique of which there are many videos available online. It involved layering PVS material of different properties in different areas based on what you are trying to achieve. He then demonstrated pouring these up, making a wax rim and setting the 6 upper anterior teeth. 

Nothing too ground breaking so far but I would have assumed this would be the case as not much has changed in the fundementals of denture design and construction for many decades. Instead it has reinforced some fundemental principals and got my brain ticking about denture work and questioned certain dogmatic principles which may not be as true as university lecturers claimed. It did make me reflext on how our university removable prosthodontic education was quite disjointed and chaotic but I am grateful that I have had some good exposure to the art form since. 

I know I have a lot to learn and practice on the subject and look forward to see what day 2 holds. One thing I will definitely be trying is taking some time to set the 6 anterior teeth chairside to give a better idea of how the teeth appear and leaving less up to chance with the technician. My role at the public clinic can allow me to do this as there is no financial pressure involved, I can take my time and do a good job and hopefully learn a lot about denture work and overall aesthetics. 

Will see how day 2 goes and provide an update hopefully tomorrow.