Pivot forming involves the transfer of data of a sanded tooth so that a dental technician can then produce the corresponding pivot for it.

If a tooth has suffered such severe damage by cavities that nothing is left of the crown, crown treatment is no longer possible, since the crown cannot be securely attached. The solution to this problem is a root pivot. First, the root canal is filled up, then hollowed out to enable the insertion of a root pivot. Depending on the manufacturing method used, the pivot is either cemented into the canal right away (in the case of a pre-fabricated pivot), or an imprint is taken and the dental technician fashions a metal pivot, known as a custom-made pivot, which is inserted a week later.

The procedure of taking an imprint and forming the hollowed-out tooth is called pivot forming and only performed for custom-made pivots. Custom-made pivots are no longer that common (except for root pivot caps).

Here you can see various pre-fabricated root canal pivots, on the left a pre-fabricated steel pivot and on the right a pre-fabricated fiberglass pivot. Steel pivots, whether custom or pre-fabricated, often lead to root fractures, usually years after insertion, which is why they are hardly used nowadays. Unlike the metal pivots, the fiberglass pivots are not cemented, but glued, which greatly reduces the danger of a root fracture.

And now back to pivot forming: the film shows how a part of the root filling is removed, or hollowed out, after root treatment. Then an imprint is taken, and the dental technician is shown the position and form of the hollowed out areas using the black pins. Now the technician can produce the individual metal pivot, and a week later the pivots, in this case root pivot caps, are cemented in. The holders are set into the denture, which greatly improves the stability of the denture.