Rubber dam provides a dry field, improved operator visibility and access, increased patient comfort and safety and infection control. Other methods of isolation can be economical, easy to use and effective for short period of time but they are ineffective if high volumes of fluid are present. Even though the concept of absolute isolation was developed more than 150 years ago and despite its widely acknowledged benefits, its use has been unfortunately rejected by many in the profession due to time for its placement, cost of equipment and materials, difficulty in use and patient acceptance. However, recently many new variations have been introduced like hygienic dental dam, derma dam, flexi dam, foldable frames, pre-framed dams, kool dam, fast dam and isolite system. These recent advances in rubber dam are less time consuming and easy to use thus enticing practitioners to use it regularly.
