Introduction:
This is a nice, simple 3/4 gold prep with a little glitch. We're hiring 2 new hygienists now so we're all a bit stressed out. One of my world class assistants forgot to make a blue bite template for the temporary, so we reverted to the 1970's for this procedure.
On all lower 2nd molars and most upper 2nd molars, because of their proximity to the joint, I do only gold or monolithic zirconia. No more PFM on those to avoid the unpredictable but inevitable porcelain fracture. I'm fortunate enough to practice in a "high dental IQ/high median income" area, so I do get the opportunity to do these restorations frequently.
Conclusion:
We recovered nicely from the "glitch". I think some practices are continuing to use aluminum shells as their primary temp crown. We've used either methyl methacrylate (Jet) or Bis GMA for many years. If relined and properly trimmed, then aluminum shells can be every bit as effective as a custom temp. But if they're not you'll see tissue damage and have a difficult time keeping them in place. The whole procedure took 50 minutes start to finish.