DENTAL WAXES AND INLAY Casting Wax

Boxing Wax • Makeup of paraffin, ceresin, beeswax, and

resins.
• Soft pliable wax with a smooth and shiny
• Supplied in sheets of various thicknesses.
appearance.
• Used for single-tooth indirect restorations, fixed
• Supplied in long narrow strips measuring 1 to 1½
bridges, and casting metal portions of a partial
inches wide and 12 to 18 inches long.
denture.
• Used to form a wall or box around a preliminary
o For fixed bridges, you have to come up
impression when pouring it up.
with a wax pattern for metal
o With the use of modeling compound,
component/coping of jacket crown
stock tray and plaster of Paris.
o For RPD, this wax is used to create a
pattern as well.
▪ The casting wax is called major
connector that connects all
parts of the RPD
▪ The wax that surrounds the
Sticky Wax surfaces of the tooth are called
clasp component/assembly
• Supplied in sticks or blocks.
▪ The color red seen in the picture
• Main ingredients are beeswax and rosin.
below is called mesh
• Very brittle wax, but when heated, it becomes
very tacky.
• Useful when creating a wax pattern or joining
acrylic resin together.
o Used for the wax pattern in removable
partial denture
o Used to join broken dentures

Baseplate Wax (pink wax)

• Made from paraffin or ceresin with beeswax and
carnauba wax.
• Hard and brittle at room temperature.
Utility Wax • Supplied in sheets.
• Three types:
• Tacky at room temperature
1. Type I, which is a softer wax used for denture
• Once applied, it will adhere without heat
construction.
• Ideal for build-up of impression trays
o Used here in the Philippines
o When increasing the height of the tray
2. Type II, a medium-hardness wax used in
utility wax is added on the rim of the tray
moderate climates.
to copy the deepest portion (vestibular)
3. Type III, a harder wax for use in tropical
of the oral cavity
climates.
o It conforms with the shape inside.
 • Pink wax is used to come up with an occlusion the prepared cavity and allow it to
rim the color blue is the denture base (upper cool down and solidify.
right picture). o After this, cut the excess and then do
• This is where artificial teeth are being set the carving.
• There are two types: o The oral anatomy of the tooth as
o Imported/High Fusing Pink Wax well as the contact of the missed
o Local/Low Fusing Pink Wax portion of the tooth must be copied
Dental Waxes 2. Type II: soft wax – indirect technique
o Pattern is made in the laboratory
• Bite registration waxes o Make an impression using A-
o Soft and very similar to casting waxes. silicone.
o Softened under warm water. o Once done with impression, pour it
▪ A U-shaped wax must be made with die stone to create a die cast.
to conform with the arch o In that die cast, the wax pattern will
o Patient is instructed to bite down, and be made
the wax will form an imprint of the teeth.
▪ Rinse after removal on the
patients’ mouth and then
transfer it to the cast and
occlude the upper and lower
cast. Composition of Inlay Wax
▪ Once occluded, mount it in the
• Paraffin wax – main ingredient, usually in
articulator
concentration of 40 t0 60 %.
• Gum dammar – or dammar resin, improves
smoothness and toughness render it more
resistant to cracking and flaking.
• Carnauba wax – quite hard and has a relatively
high melting point, it decreases the flow and
contribute to the glossiness.
• Candelilla wax – replace the carnauba wax,
same qualities but melting point is lower.
• Coloring pigments
Inlay Casting Wax
Methods in Manipulating the Inlay Wax
• Hard brittle wax made from paraffin wax,
• Dry Heat – for small amount
carnauba wax, resin, and beeswax.
o Heat (torch)
• Used to create a pattern of the indirect
• Moist Heat – for big amount
restoration on a model.
o Water bath
o Indirect restoration is normally
▪ Soften the wax, knead it until
fabricated in the laboratory, not directly
homogenous inside and out
in the patients’ mouth.
▪ Form the wax into a cone and
• Poor thermal conductor and dark in color
press it into the prepared cavity
• Classified according to how they flow:
▪ Hold the wax until it solidifies
1. Type I: medium wax – direct technique
▪ Carve the wax pattern to
o Pattern is made directly inside the
simulate normal anatomy and
patients’ mouth.
contact areas.
o First soften the wax using an alcohol
lamp pass it through the flame and How to Prevent Wax Distortion?
form a cone shape and insert it in
• Avoid thermal change
 • Never allow relaxation (allowing the wax to cool o Do wax pattern inside mouth
down by itself) o Follow outline of cavity
• Soften it homogenously ▪ Advantage – less chances of
• Do not allow impurities distortion
• No droplets of water incorporated in wax • The occlusion is easily
pattern checked
o Spattering of wax upon flaming- ex ▪ Disadvantage – poor
frying with water accessibility and visibility
o Smearing of the surface of the wax

Inlay Should have a

parallel/diverging wall
• Is an indirect
and wider base
restoration (filling)
consisting of a solid
substance fitted to
a tooth and
cemented into No undercuts for easy
place. removal
• Confined within the
walls of the cavity.
• Direction of the wall must be diverging and the
preparation must be free from any undercuts. • Indirect Technique – done outside the mouth
• Unlike inlay, the onlay is a type of indirect with a die stone
restoration or filling that is normally fitted to a o Take impression of mouth and construct
tooth but with bigger amount of tooth structure with die stone
removed. o Apply separating medium (water)
• Onlay are basically located outside the prepared o Soften the inlay wax until homogenously
cavity where there is a missing cusp or all the soft then insert to tooth cavity until it
cusp are missing hardens

Casting Investments and Procedures

• Wax pattern construction
• Investing
• Wax elimination
• Casting
• Quenching
• Pickling
• Polishing

Wax Pattern Construction

• Direct Technique – done inside the mouth into
the tooth itself
o Cavity preparation (using handpiece and
burs)
➢ In restorative dentistry the principle of tooth
o Soften inlay wax until homogenously preservation must be followed that is why if
soft (if not, it will cause distortion) there’s still a portion of the tooth that is sound
o Insert wax to the cavity the tooth structure must be saved.
o Hold it firmly
Accessories for Investing and Casting • Withdraw the wax pattern from the prepared
cavity with the use of a sprue former (carbide
• Crucible former
burs)
o Act as support for the sprue former as it
• Wrap this with moist cotton then heat the tip
cannot stand without a crucible
• Place it in the wax and allow it to pull down
o Made up of metal, resin, rubber, wax
• Sprinkle cold water to facilitate faster cooling
• Sprue
and hardening of the wax
o Made up of metal, resin and wax
o The sprue former will be placed at the
o No definite size
occlusoproximal area of the wax pattern
▪ Old carbide burs are usually
(thickest area of wax pettern)
used as a sprue former
o Used to remove wax pattern inside the
prepared cavity.
Investing Technique
• Asbestos sheet
o Act as shock absorber to prevent the • Single Technique – creamy consistency
sudden entrance or loss of heat during o Line the ring with asbestos sheet first
wax elimination before wetting it with water.
o Facilitate the easy removal of finished o Mix investing medium and pour it to the
investing medium from inlay ring inlay ring
o Act as water reservoir during wax o Vibrate the set-up to release the
elimination entrapped air bubbles
• Inlay ring ▪ The problem with using inlay
o Metallic tube open on both ends ring is that the inlay ring is very
• Investment material (Type V gypsum) small, so tapping the ring is not
advisable as the inlay wax may
sludge from the sprue former,
instead of tapping to remove air
bubbles, use a cement spatula
and place it in between the
crucible former and the table
and tap the spatula to create
vibration.
o Spray water to facilitate fast cooling
• Double Technique – make a “cherry” or core to
minimize entrapment of air bubbles
o Coat first the wax pattern with investing
medium – thin mix to prolong the
working and setting time
o Need 2 camel hairbrushes: 1 for the thin
mix and the other for the dry investing
medium
o Dip the 1st brush into the thin mix then
Investing paint the wax pattern
• To create a mold, o Dip the 2nd brush into the dry investing
use an investment medium then sprinkle it to the wax
compound because pattern
o Vibrate using a serrated hand
it can tolerate high
temperature instrument
o Then do the investing like a single
technique
 Pickling
• Heating the metal in acid to remove the surface
discoloration of the metal
• Uses pickling solution: Hcl acid
• Wash in sodium bicarbonate and water to
remove Hcl acid then fit inside the prepared
cavity

➢ Make sure that there is a space of about 6 mm

between the wax pattern and the top edge
portion of the inlay ring
Wax Elimination Polishing

• Remove crucible former and sprue former

• Temperature: 700˚C-1,600˚C
• Continuous heating for 1 hour before 700F
should be reached
• Red hot color of inlay ring will assure that wax
elimination is complete
• Sprue space or the ingate –
o Previously occupied by the sprue former
o Passageway of the melted metal to the
prepared mold space

Casting
• Centrifugal casting machine is used
• Before casting gold, melt it with a casting torch
• Once the metal melts, hold the arm of the
centrifugal machine and do the counter
clockwise rotation (3-4 turns)
• Then release it to go clockwise movement

Quenching
• Bring the inlay ring into the running water to give
an annealing (make metal softer) effect to the
metal