You can still design your retainer online but you will not be able to put the design in your current retainer. But remember us if you ever need replacements! But dont lose your retainers on purpose 😉 replacements can be VERY expensive!
No degree needed, just training. But there are schools you can go to, just search for: Dental Laboratory Technology Schools. I went to one in San Antonio, Texas. The school was very fun!
Yes you will! But practice, practice, practice! By practice I mean talk... a lot! Read books and magazines out loud to yourself, sing in the shower! Really anything that gets your brain and tongue used to an extra layer of plastic on the roof of your mouth. It will take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks depending on how much you can practice. I remember when I was an orthodontic assistant, there were some kids that I could tell never wore their retainer. Kids that could not talk at all was a clue to the doctor and assistants that they are not wearing their retainer, along with their teeth getting crooked again.
So, good luck and practice, practice, practice!
As far as your splints, yes we do make those. I think I know what you are talking about it looking dirty:
I used to use these sheets from Great Lakes isofolan
http://www.greatlakesortho.com/commerce/detail/?nPID=158
They did a great job keeping the stone out of the soft side of the suck down material. and it is very thin so it doesn't bother the retention much. What you do is do a suck down of the isofolan first, then remove the excess material (cut it against the model below the line where the splint will go) poke a few holes in the material against the teeth with a sharp knife to let air escape during the suck down of the half/half material. when your ready to separate the splint from the teeth that stuff just peels out
If you don't have that you can use a couple of layers of separator, my favorite is:
http://jbcandcompany.com/shopexd.asp?id=721
Second thing to watch out for is to make sure no monomer touches the soft side of the soft/hard thermoforming material. If you cut the material before you add cold cure make sure you wax out the exposed edge to the soft side of the material. If monomer touches that we figured out it makes it milky and white. When I cut out my material I leave a ledge that was created from sinking my model down into the beads of the biostar, that way it creates a support ledge for pouring the cold cure acrylic against and it keeps the soft side far away from the monomer.
I have question for you please about this acrylic design I saw in a website of another lab. You tell me if I am wrong but there is no way this design could be fabricated by layering acrylic of different colors right? It looks too complicated and small for it to be acrylic. could it be drawn by a sharpie or something and then clear acrylic over it? How would you fabricate this? I would really appreciate your help and input please.
