When you’ve been wading through root canals, extractions, restorations and even implants, your perceptions change; what’s totally commonplace to a dentist can be mysterious and even frightening to a patient. Take, for example, a dental veneer procedure — you’ve done this dozens, if not hundreds of times, but it’s likely the patient you’re performing each…
In the past I’ve used this blog to talk about the huge importance of dentist-patient communication. As important as the patient-practitioner relationship is, the dentist-dental lab relationship is often overlooked. Today I’m going to take a look at how modern technology can enhance communication between the dentist and the dental lab. Until very recent advances…
Quick-fix dentistry is becoming more popular, especially on the back of six month smiles, television coverage, and ‘one day’ implants. Unfortunately the patient’s desires and expectations can outrun the capacity of modern quick-fix dentistry. Absent an overall comprehensive care plan, there is the distinct chance of overlooking other things which may be affected; the quick-fix…
Yesterday I was talking about the ethical problems of being asked to replace a functioning, healthy tooth restoration. Today I’d like to talk about the ethical obligations involved in ensuring proper isolation. Specifically, using a rubber dam. I think this subject is important enough to merit its own discussion. Even today there are dentists who,…
Let’s just image, for an example, a patient requests that a functional and non-defective amalgam restoration be replaced. Let’s go even further, suggesting that even after the clinician, doing his full and ethical duty, has disclosed and explained all of the potential consequences to alternative restorations. The patient digs their heels in, and persists in…
What I quite often hear from our clients is how pleased they are when placing an IPS e.max restoration, mostly due to the flexibility of cementation selection. Crowns and bridges, for example, can be cemented according to adhesive, self-adhesive and conventional methods, whereas inlays and veneers can be cemented adhesively as usual. The Ivoclar Vivadent…
We’ve talked before about the increasing importance placed on veneers, and the explosive demand for veneers in recent years. A patient today isn’t just looking for a healthy and functional restorative solution: They also want an aesthetically pleasing result. All-ceramic veneers, being both biocompatible and aesthetically pleasing, are rapidly growing in popularity. IPS e.max allows…
Yesterday’s innovation, today’s standard. Almost 3000 years ago, around 700 BCE, the Etruscans in northern Italy made dentures out of human or other animal teeth. They didn’t last long, but being easy to produce, were popular through the middle of the 19th century. The oldest useful complete denture, however, appeared in Japan in the second…
Cosmetic dentistry’s rise to public awareness carries a delicate question about ‘selling.’ As we established ealier, the private dentist must operate as a business, and will often use aesthetic dissatisfaction as the genesis of a treatment plan. We also established that this is acceptable behaviour in today’s age of demand for aesthetic treatments. However, we…
Combine more cosmetic dentistry awareness with increased media attention, and we find clinicians treating and managing many requests for personal image enhancement. Previously, patients wouldn’t ask for the treatments, or maybe even the requests were ignored. To some patients today aesthetics are of such importance that —even if clinically unnecessary— these procedures can no longer…
