By: Michael Eid
Your first few Class II restorations will probably have open contacts, flat contours, or a ridge you’ll want to cry over. That’s normal. Getting good proximal contacts isn’t just about packing composite; it’s about mastering your matrix system.
Here’s what I learned the hard way.
1. Tofflemire Feels Safe: But It Lies to You
It’s the first system you use in preclinic, so it feels familiar. But in real teeth, Tofflemire bands tend to give flat contacts. The circumferential design can’t hug the tooth’s contour unless you aggressively burnish and wedge.
🦷 Pro Tip: Great for MODs or big boxes, but don’t expect textbook anatomy. It’s for containment, not perfection.
2. Palodent and Garrison Don’t Forgive Sloppiness
Sectional systems, like Palodent and Garrison, can give you perfect contacts if you set them up right. One mis-seated ring or misplaced wedge, and you’ll get an open contact or overhang anyway.
🦷 Pro Tip: Take time to seat the band tightly, wedge firmly, and check your ring stability. If it’s rocking, so will your contact.
3. Not Every Case Is Made for Sectionals
Wide preps, broken cusps, or deep boxes? Don’t force a sectional where it doesn’t fit. That’s where Tofflemire still wins. You’ll get better support and fewer band collapses.
🦷 Pro Tip: Know when to switch tools. Flexibility beats stubbornness every time.
4. Burnishing and Wedging Are Your Real Heroes
No matter what system you use, contact quality lives and dies by how well you wedge and burnish.
🦷 Tight wedge = no flash
🦷 Proper burnish = solid contact
🦷 Skipping either = failure
5. Practice on Real Teeth, Not Typodonts
Typodonts lie. Natural teeth have tight contacts, weird contours, and subgingival boxes that fight you. The only way to get good is repetition, and patience.
Final Thought
Perfect contacts don’t come from the brand of matrix; they come from understanding it. Learn both systems, know their limits, and stop blaming the tools. Your first few will suck. The tenth will suck less. And by your twentieth, you’ll start getting it right.
