PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF MODERN RESTORATIVE DENTISTRY
As someone who appreciates speed, efficiency, consistency, and performance—both on and off the racetrack—the world of dentistry excites me just as much as car racing. As clinicians, we crave products and technologies that are not only fast, efficient, and consistent, but offer great long-term results for our patients.
It’s exciting to see all the new technology being injected into the world of direct restorative dentistry. We’re making patients healthier through a combination of improved diagnostic capabilities, less invasive restorative technology, and innovative materials that help fight off tooth decay and remineralize damaged tooth structure. Indeed, the era of modern direct restorative dentistry is upon us.
Take, for example, the evolution of laser-driven diagnostics and near-infrared light sources that allow us to find microscopic defects in tooth structure that would otherwise be missed. Now, amazingly, we can find a 50-μm defect 5 mm down inside the tooth. When we find tooth decay and see damage early on, we can be less invasive in our treatment. Not only that, but we can quantify this damage down to the crystalline structure of the tooth so that it can be treated through a variety of modern restorative techniques.
There also has been an influx of nontraditional treatment modalities—such as remineralization, oral hygiene therapeutics, resin infiltrations, micro prep designs, and injectable composites—that are all well on their way to becoming the new standards of care. For example, we might use resin chemistry and innovative delivery technology to entomb bacteria in the demineralized defect preventing it from propagating any further damage, while allowing it to remineralize and rebuild tooth structure.
Dentistry continues to push boundaries when it comes to the placement of direct tooth-colored restorations. Many modern composite-based restorative systems feature blending characteristics that make anterior bonding easier than ever. Additionally, the chemical makeup of these composite systems offers a simplified placement technique and a more realistic appearance due to their unique filler particle sizes and resin matrices, which is particularly helpful when treating patients with anterior tooth decay.
These unique concepts, materials, and technologies, many of which have already proved themselves to be effective in direct restorative dentistry, will continue to evolve over the next few years. This next decade will, no doubt, be remembered as a time of tremendous change, not only in the way we find and manage tooth decay, but how we restore patients to function and esthetics using modern restorative materials and innovative techniques.
Todd Snyder, DDS, FAACD
Laguna Niguel, CA