Rubber dam

I don't think being NHS or private is much of a factor in their usage. They were never used in 3 years of NHS work and now coming up to 3 years in private practice I have seen it used once. And we have at least 3 different types of placement system (fully stocked with all the peripherals) in the stock cupboard. Just never used....

I think it should be compulsory for all treatments!

We use it at my practice all the time, and ALWAYS for RCT's!

at my old NHS/private practice we used it once and that was for a private pt (and he hated it, probably bcos he forgot to swollow!)

amazing how many dentists dont use it or dont know how to use it! maybe thats the difference between nhs and private?

We use rubber dam routinely. Better for the patient and better for the dentist and nurse.
We are about to take on a Therapist and she will also us rubber dam routinely

Thought it was a must to use rubber dam for endo!! Can't see any company defending them if a pt were to inhale a file or bleach.We refuse to do endo on patients that won't let us put dam on them. Think more dentists should make the effort to use rubber dam it takes some practice to get quick at placing it. All the dentists at our practice use it. It takes less than a minute to place once you get good at it. Practice makes perfect after all.

the dentists in my work very rarely use rubber dam generally vt's use it once or twice when they first start then give up when they realise no one else bothers. i think they should really use it for rcts though - bleach is not a chemical anyone wants in their mouth!

Just wondering how many of you work with dentists that routinely use rubber dam.
Apparently not very many do.
We started using it routinely for fillings and some inlay preps about 12 years ago, was a pain in the ass at first but now I hate it when we get the odd patient who can't tolerate it.
We also did a questionnare with the patients and most of them prefer treatment with it. Some weren't keen but didn't object to having it again. A handful just hated it. Funny, they were all middle aged women!! Not sure what gives with that.