All of us have patients who have destroyed their teeth usually due to occlusal disease...patients who have missing teeth. And, unfortunately, many of these patients do not have the funds to pay for a full mouth rehabilitation. And, even if they did, we do not believe that the full-mouth rehabilitations are ideal anymore.
We see journal articles showing patients who have virgin teeth, and in the end they are treated with a full mouth of crowns. We know from experience in our practices that these patients do not do very well: The margins below the gums cause our patients to have unhealthy gums; and, then when they have caries below the gums, trying to treat this becomes a nightmare. That is why using minimally based super-gingival dentistry is the best for our patients. We do not have to grind the teeth. We can use new adhesive dentistry. And we can give our patients excellent results without having to destroy their natural teeth.
We will examine cases where patients who might have traditionally been treated with full-mouth rehabilitation, are instead treated with bonded dentistry. In one case we will use direct composites and some indirect composites and almost no grinding on the natural teeth. Meanwhile, we are able to provide the patients with the esthetics and the function that the patient needs.
We will discuss the seven signs and symptoms of occlusal disease which is a very practical way to learn how to diagnose occlusal disease on your patients.
We will talk about smile design using the Dento-Facial Esthetic Diagnosis System.
We will also cover the 3 Golden Rules of Occlusion which are the engineering principles that we need for durability.
