Preclinics of Conservative Dental Medicine · MU Sofia
24. Contours, interproximal contacts and embrasures – characteristics, restoration technique, mistakes and consequences.
Covers the physiological contours of crowns, the position and function of proximal contacts, and the four embrasures around the interdental papilla. Explains how contour and contact are rebuilt with matrix bands, wedges, burnishing and sectional rings, with a table comparing matrix systems. Closes with the consequences of open contacts, overhangs and over-contouring, and a set of key points.
Topic 24 of 53 in the MU Sofia syllabus for Preclinics of Conservative Dental Medicine (Dental Medicine, Year 3). The free AceMed note covers it in 6 sections, about 899 words (7 min of reading), with 17 flashcards.
In this note
Introduction
Physiological contours
Proximal contacts and embrasures
Restoration technique
Mistakes and their consequences
Key points
Introduction
The contours of the crown, the proximal contacts and the embrasures around them steer food away from the gingiva, keep the teeth stable in the arch and give the interdental papilla its space. Every restoration of a proximal, facial or lingual surface must rebuild them; mistakes cause food impaction, gingivitis, secondary caries and bone loss.
Physiological contours
Height of contour (crest of curvature): the most prominent point of the facial or lingual surface. It lies in the cervical third on the facial surfaces of all teeth and the lingual surfaces of anterior teeth, and in the middle third on the lingual surfaces of posterior teeth.
The cervical convexity projects only about 0.5 mm beyond the CEJ. It deflects food over the gingival margin while leaving the surface open to self-cleaning and brushing.
Emergence profile: the contour of the tooth or restoration where it leaves the gingival sulcus. It should be flat, continuing the root surface without a step or bulge.
Over-contouring creates a plaque-retentive bulge at the gingival margin → gingivitis; under-contouring lets food strike the gingival margin → gingival irritation.
Over-contouring is the more common and more harmful error: in the cervical third a restoration should rather be too flat than too bulky.
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