BeloGrad Academy

🧠 Clinical Thought Process

Why do I prefer to open contact areas during tooth preparation?

Over the years, this has become my standard approach for veneers, onlays, and other indirect restorations.

The reason is simple: opening the contact makes life easier for everyone involved in the process.

First, for the dentist.

Modern intraoral scanners perform much better when there is a clear separation between adjacent teeth. When contacts are preserved, scanners often struggle to identify where one tooth ends and the next begins, leading to rescanning and potential inaccuracies.

Second, for the dental technician.

With an intact contact, the technician is forced to design a restoration in an area that is difficult to visualize and control. As a result, the contact may become too tight, requiring extensive chairside adjustments, or too loose, creating the risk of an open contact or incomplete margin coverage.

The next challenge comes during bonding.

Rubber dam isolation becomes more difficult, floss tends to shred during inversion, and the risk of tearing the dam increases significantly.

In addition, excess cement removal and polishing of the proximal area become far more predictable when contacts are opened.

Finally, there is the issue of risk management.

Since adopting this approach, I have repeatedly discovered areas of demineralized enamel hidden within proximal contacts.

Yes, some of these lesions may remineralize.

But I always ask myself:

What if they don’t?

What if this becomes the starting point of future caries beneath an otherwise perfectly executed restoration?

That is why I prefer to have complete control over the proximal area rather than leave it to chance.

📸 In our recent post, I showed some of my preparations from 2010 and discussed what I would do differently today. Opening contact areas is one of those changes.

👉 Complete clinical sequence:
https://www.facebook.com/BeloGradAcademy/posts/pfbid02U6sqNBKwvMfT4n3ApWvbJQfbqrNvfpC2reapqd25M9RkNoaaoxJDWpqMcqejF1R8l

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How much into the sulcus should we go?

Using a bur with laser marks gives us complete control over the depth of preparation. Each mark serves as a visual reference, helping us to be predictable and consistent

👉 Swipe through the gallery to learn more

Predictability comes from controlling both depth and angulation throughout every step of the Vertical Freedom BOPT concept protocol

To learn how to achieve predictable results like this, join the Big Verti Prep Course by Stefano Conti

📌 Course in English
17-18 July, 2026
21-22 August, 2026
11-12 September, 2026
https://belograd.com/hands_on_course/big-verti-prep-course/

📌 Большой курс по вертикальному препарированию (синхронный перевод на русский)
03-04 июля 2026
20-21 ноября 2026
https://belograd.com/ru/hands_on_course/kurs-po-preparirovaniyu/

📍 BG Academy, Prague, Czech Republic

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