One concern many of my students have when they start doing more comprehensive dentistry is being able to take accurate records and to produce accurate mounted study models.
This is a very legitimate concern because accurate records are the foundation for the case going forward. In Module 1 of Occlusion Design I teach in detail the systems for completing these records and one of the foundations I have created is 2 sets of mounted study models for each of my cases.
There are a couple of excellent reasons to create 2 sets of mounted study models for your cases. One reason is to have one set to treatment plan, trial equilibrate or even complete the diagnostic wax-up while keeping the second set intact as the pre-treatment reference.
Keeping a pre-treatment reference set of mounted study models is important for medical legal purposes for comprehensive cases. These pre-treatment reference study models can also help you if the changes you made in the diagnostic wax-up are not successful when transferred to the provisional restorations.
What if you decide to complete an upper arch of crowns and open the VDO and the patient has muscle pain and feels locked in by the provisional restorations? It is valuable to have the mounted pre-treatment reference study models to compare to the provisional models and see what may be causing this issue.
It could be the envelope of function is too tight? It could be the angle of guidance is too steep?
Having the mounted pre-treatment reference study models to compare to the provisional models will help you answer these questions and develop a solution.
Another reason to create 2 sets of mounted study models for your cases is to answer the question I hear from students all the time- “What should I do if my mounted study models do not match what I saw in the patients mouth?”
Having 2 sets of study models helps to identify if you have reproducible records with your patients.