Respond to the following discussion question for this module. In the lecture, I mentioned that a 20 index fluid from one company may give you a completely different result than a 20 index fluid from another. Discuss some of the additives to the chemicals that would explain this, and tell me why they might be added to the chemical. Please respond to three other people agree or disagree and why?

First person There are a couple of condtions that can make the eyes difficult to close. The one that is seen the most is sunken eyes. This can be due to dehydration or emaciation. To place the eye caps they eyelid may need to be stetched in order to ensure proper closure and then glue may be needed additionally. To close the eyelids over the caps you would you an aneurysm hook to pull the eyelids over. 2/3 of the upper lid and 1/3 of the lowelid should be the proper proportion for the eyes. If that doesn’t fix the proplem then direct injection to build the tissue around the eyes may be needed. Before injecting the eyes I would be sure to set the features aand then evaluate if injection is necessary. If eyecaps don’t create that natural look then cotton can be used as well.
Second person When you receive a case that has been refridgerated with a feeding and air passageway tube in their mouth and/or nostrils, you may find difficulty with setting features specifically around the nose and mouth. In our textbook it notes that when the tubes have been in the patient’s mouth or nose for several weeks, the surrounding skin may be destroyed. One of the treatments available to restore them are deep massage therapy in those areas during arterial injection. Also post embalming restorative wax or tissue builder may be applied.

Buck teeth are another condition that will cause issues when setting features. Often times when a case has buck teeth, top teeth protrudes out causing the bottom lip to be unable to meet the top lip. Our textbook shows gives us the directive to place a strip of cotton over the lower teeth which will cause the lower lip to be pushed forward so that the lips meet.

Third person I will talk about protruding teeth because honestly that is the main issue I deal with at my funeral home.  I am not saying we don’t run into other issues, but this seems to be the main one.  Many times the deceased either do not have any teeth, they have false teeth that are not in their mouth, they only have half a set of false teeth, or they have missing teeth through out the mouth.  Any of these can make it a little tricky to work with but if you do it right, you can make the mouth look perfect.  Alright so if the person has their teeth to be put in their mouth, that shouldn’t be too bad and it should look pretty natural when they are put in.  Now if we are working with someone who only has top teeth, the best thing to do is use cotton on the bottom to help form the bottom area to look like teeth are in the mouth.  You also may have to clip both frenulum to get the lips to move easier so they can be lined up to close the mouth so it looks natural.  Dehydration causes issues with the eye lids many times because the eye lids sink it.  In this case we could use eye caps, cotton, or even both if they are really bad.  You start with the lower lid when you are ready to close and then do the upper lip. If it is a tough closure, you would most likely want to use super glue.