 hello everyone welcome back to another session in dentistry and more today we have a small topic in conservative dentistry that is wedges and wedging techniques so wedges we are very familiar with while doing restoration so wedges are devices that create rapid separation during tooth preparation and restorations and are placed in gingival embrasures so we keep wedges in gingival embrasures the tooth this is the gum line we keep our wedges here okay so this is the position of wedge so wedges are basically 0.5 inches that is around 1 to 2 centimeter and it can be a triangular in shape or round shape and also a plastic one which is light transmitting this triangular and round are wooden wedges and we have one more category that is plastic wedges so the wooden wedges they are very easy to trim and adjust so we can easily adjust and trim this wooden wedges okay and they are even cheaper also their properties they absorb the moisture and swell ensuring retention of the band so we are keeping a band here so while doing the glass tooth preparation so this band will be properly in position because these wooden wedges absorb moisture that is a saliva and it ensure the retention okay so whereas the plastic wedge it is plastically molded and bent to a shape of the call so this is a call area which is the inter proximal space so this transparent plastic wedges can transmit light so it can be used in light activated restoration so these are the two basic types of wedges that is wooden wedges and plastic wedges so next classification is triangular and round so triangular wedges are most preferred for cavities in deep ginger well margins okay so so this triangular wedges having two positions okay that is apex and base so apex of the wedge usually lies in the so it will be like this so the apex this is apex it lies in ginger well portion of the contact area whereas the base which is in contact with the ginger so this is a ginger so it is in contact with the ginger so this helps in stabilization and retraction of the ginger so it is used in tooth preparation and deep ginger well margins so whereas the round wedge so it will be round shape okay so it is not so commonly used it is made from wooden toothpicks by trimming the apical portion and it has uniform shape it is most commonly used in class to preparation okay so the plastic wedges the problem with the plastic wedges the trimming part is difficult and adaptability is also difficult in some cases so the plastic wedges we learned the light transmitting is there again we have normal wedges and wave shaped wedges okay wave shaped wedges and the normal one so the normal wedges they are similar to the wooden wedges in shape and use whereas the wave shaped wedges the curved shape helps in easy placement and proper seal of the buckle and lingual emperors okay without impinging the ginger so wave shaped wedges are available in small medium and large sizes okay that is a wave shaped so if we have this tooth here okay and this is a buckle emperors and this is a lingual emperors okay so this is a buckle emperors this one and this is a lingual emperors so it will be easily adapt to this buckle and lingual emperors that is a wave shaped wedges whereas the light transmitting wedges they transmit 90 to 95 percentage of the incident light it helps in composite resin restoration especially in that cervical part because if the other type of wedges it may hinder the process of polymerization okay so always we need to keep some points in mind while using the wedges the first one is length of the wedge should be in range of 1 to 1.2 centimeter it should not irritate tongue cheek and ginger tissue and these wedges should be inserted beneath the contact area in the gingival emperors so this is a contact area so it should be kept here so usually inserted from lingual emperors area as it is wider than buckle area sometimes when it irritates tongue it can be inserted from buckle areas also so always a lingual emperors is wider commonly so it can be inserted from the lingual side sometimes it can be tried from the buckle side if the tongue has some irritation with this wedges so wedge should be firm and stable during the restorative procedure and should not be forcibly inserted in the contact area it might lead to pain and swelling now let's learn about the various wedging techniques so we have four methods the first one is single wedging then double wedging wedge wedging and the last one piggyback wedging so the first technique is single wedging where we use only one wedge okay so all other wedging techniques we use two wedges here only one wedge so we place a pointed end from the lingual emperors commonly because most of the time the lingual emperors is wider than the buckle emperors okay so if we have at times the buckle emperors speaker we can point from buckle to lingual okay and wedge the band tightly against the tooth so that is a single wedging technique whereas the second one that is double wedging okay so here we use two wedges this is the first wedge this is the second wedge so one is inserted from the buckle embrasure and another from lingual embrasure this technique is indicated in these methods such as the spacing between edges and teeth where single wedge is not sufficient we have we need to keep two wedges in order to get a tightened retainer so when this space is bigger we need to use two wedges okay so this proximal box if it is widened in buckle lingual dimension we need to use two wedges so one we keep from the buckle and one we keep from the lingual embrasure whereas the third one is wedge wedging okay in this technique again two wedges are used so the first wedge is inserted from the lingual embrasure while the another one is inserted between the wedge and matrix band at right angle okay this is just from opposite parallel to each other but here the second wedge is kept at right angle so it is kept between the wedge and the matrix band okay so it is used in maxillary first primolar because of the presence of flutes in root near the gingival area so in that case we need to use a second wedge at right angle to the first wedge between the matrix band and to the wedge okay that is a wedge wedging the last one is piggyback wedging in this technique again two wedges are used so there is one larger wedge which is inserted as normally while the smaller one that is a piggyback is inserted above the larger wedge so it is indicated in cases of shallow proximal box with gingival recession okay so this is commonly in gingival recession this is in special case of maxillary first primolar okay this is big embrasures in buckling wool dimension so this this technique this piggyback technique is providing closer adaptation and contour of the matrix band so these are the four techniques we use in keeping wedges the single wedging is only one wedge the rest all are two wedge techniques one is from buckle and lingual which is double wedging the right angle one is wedge wedging and the bigger and smaller one is piggyback wedging so that's all about wedge and wedging techniques okay so hope you understood this wedging techniques and its types so i'll come up with a new topic in conservative industry thank you