Kratos Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 I'm wondering what the tall tell signs are that a tooth has been repaired. Anyone out their who does repair work or knows how to spot repair work, you're knowledge would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoenixflood Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 I'm wondering what the tall tell signs are that a tooth has been repaired. Anyone out their who does repair work or knows how to spot repair work, you're knowledge would be greatly appreciated. Well cracks are always a bad sign It's good to have a UV LED light to ckeck for such things. What type of repair are you talking about? The soul of a Fossil Hunter is one that is seeking, always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kratos Posted November 21, 2008 Author Share Posted November 21, 2008 Well cracks are always a bad sign It's good to have a UV LED light to ckeck for such things. What type of repair are you talking about? Repairs done to the root or Bourlette, or repairs made to make the tooth look whole again without having all the pieces to the tooth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 examine a lot of them, and train your eye to look for anything that doesn't look "normal" after your eye learns what normal is. too perfect, too shiny, filled-in hydration cracks, areas that don't match, etc. same sort of process you'd try to use to tell if a car you wanted to buy had body work done. look for the filler. most craftsmen aren't perfect in their work. you could examine a lot of cheap, broken pieces of teeth that you pretty much can be sure haven't been repaired to help understand what natural teeth should look like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Sharks Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 A blacklight would be the easiest way to spot repairs. Any repairs would glow different than the natural portion of the tooth. You could also try scratching the enamel with a pin for example. A natural tooth will be unaffected while fillers will scratch and gauge. I had an angustidens tooth that I won on ebay early in my collecting days. When I showed mty wife, she thought it felt different than the few other teeth I had at the time. I took a pin to it and it left marks so I rubbed some alcohol on it and sure enough, there was a coating hiding an obvious repair. I got a refund, but it was a good learning experience as well. Bourlette enamel is much thinner, so I wouldn't scratch too hard on it or it could flake off. Look for odd serrations as well; those would be hard to replicate accurate enough to match the rest of the tooth 1 There's no limit to what you can accomplish when you're supposed to be doing something else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoenixflood Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Yup, UV LED (blacklight) He's right : ) It also picks up on resign and glue so if there is any funny stuff it will glow a different color. Also notice the feel, and even the sound sometimes. Tracer and Northern sharks both have excellent advise. The soul of a Fossil Hunter is one that is seeking, always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bmorefossil Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 well i dont have any megs with repairs but if you cant tell there is one there then i wouldnt care lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megalodon1 Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 I take another (unrestored) Meg and slightly tap them both together in the area that is suspected to be repaired/restored. If it has been repaired the sound that you hear is different from a natural to natural contact vs a restored Meg contacting an unrestored Meg. I look for the stone-like zing that you hear from tapping two stones together. I use this sound-detecting method if I cannot immediately tell that a tooth has been repaired visually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoRon Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Experience is the best tool to detect repairs. A UV lamp is second best. After those two there are a lot of different methods that people employ with mixed success. Luckily, most repairs are easily detected by abrupt changes in color and texture. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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