Treatment at the dentist can be more pleasant

What is rubberdam?

Rubberdam is a flexible thin membrane. It isolates one or more teeth from the oral cavity during the treatment. It is fixed around the tooth with a special fastener and is extended on the small frame. The tooth is separated from other teeth in this way.

Why is it used?

The dentist has to be very careful during the treatment about other oral structures besides the particular tooth. It is necessary to extend lips, cheeks, tongue, to suck up saliva and put the cotton tampons into appropriate places in the mouth. The active cooling with water is needed not to overheat or damage the tooth during the drilling. As a result, there are many tools in the mouth, water leaking in the throat, unpleasant taste of the dental materials and worries about swallowing some particles too.

We use rubberdam for:

1. For your protection – it prevents you from swallowing or inhaling tools, materials or other particles released when the dentist removes old fillings. There is no water, irrigation liquids or other dental materials in your mouth.

2. For your comfort – it makes the barrier between your mouth and treated tooth. This makes you feel that the whole process is situated outside of a mouth. The feeling of a mouth full of hands, tools and other equipment goes away. You can just lie and relax.  

3. For protection of cheeks, tongue and lips – it covers all these parts and pushes them gently aside, so it is not necessary to use dental mirror that may be often annoying for many of us. The risk of injury to these tissues is minimized.

4. It prevents the irritation of particular parts inside your mouth that are responsible for vomiting reflex.

5. It also prevents penetration of bacteria from saliva into treated tooth. This is particularly important during the root canal treatment. If bacteria got into root canal it would decrease the success of the treatment and increase the risk of infection. 

6. It ensures dry working area – dry area is necessary for making white photocomposit fillings. If the saliva gets at the surface of the tooth it would reduce the quality and durability of the filling. There are no cotton tampons in the mouth. 

7. The time of treating the tooth is shorter. You do not have to rinse your mouth regularly. Water is retained on kofferdam and then soaked up. The process of treating the tooth goes on fluently and without interruptions.

8. The dentist has better overview in the surgery area. He or she could concentrate only on your tooth. The manipulation with all tools is easier and the success of treatment is increased. 

When is it possible to use rubberdam?

• During the preparation of the tooth (drilling or grinding)
• During the making of fillings 
• During the root canal treatment 
• During the fixation of dental substitute 
• During the whitening

Treatment with the use of rubberdam is better for the majority of patients. Situation when patient falls asleep during the treatment is not exceptional.