Photos of teeth with DIAMONDS (#1) => 15 photos

 This wooden shellac-stick has one purpose. That is to literally hold the band of gold teeth against my bench-peg while I'm working.

Here in this photo are lightly drilled spots where holes will be drilled. If I approve of the spacing, then and only then, will I proceed to use my twist-drill and drill further into one tooth at a time.

 If I'm pleased with the semi-drilled holes and the spacing. I will proceed to drill through the metal.

  I will not cut into the metal BUT proceed to create beads around EACH OF THE DIAMONDS.

 I left one hole unset, why is this? I might set either a small, or maybe a large stone, this will be my "judgement call" at the last moment for spacing.

 Spacing & positioning, is very critical for a new tooth. Even the bead-layout must be thought of ahead of time.

 

 The sizes of diamonds for each tooth is critical. As in this photo, there are four (4) sizes of diamonds to work with.

One hole is off-center, this is where accidents might occur. In this case, I'll use a bud-bur and will reposition the "last drill-hole" and then the "drilling" will come to a stop!

 Occasionally, I must reposition the band of teeth on the shellac-stick. The flame must be on a low-heat.

 The bead-raiser should be monitored at all times. I use a #800 grit paper.

 I will attempt to remove any defects in the metal prior to any stone setting.

 If the tooth is oval, then I must decide where the stones will be set. Here you see 3 rows of stones AND 2 rows around the center stone.

Even the spacing has to planned ahead of time, WHEW!

  There are 8 diamonds AND another row of 6 stones around this center diamond. Many times I will pause my drilling until I've completely decided that the drilling is satisfactory.

 

As you can see that there are 12 burs of all sizes. I used a small sized "156C" to Under-Cut any stone if needed.

 

 Can you see just how many sizes of stones there are in this one tooth? I have 15 more teeth to work on in total.