Validation

In 1992 I realized that cutting down healthy, beautiful tooth structure (called enamel) made no sense and should be avoided when possible. 1992 was the year that dental researchers discovered bonding agents which allowed dentists to bond porcelain or resin to the inside of a tooth. This  meant that both the enamel and the dentin could be bonded which was a major advancement.  I no longer had to remove ALL of the enamel for a crown and I could simply bond a piece of porcelain or resin in the exact shape of the missing, broken or decayed tooth.

At the same time, I stopped placing mercury fillings and exclusively used resin to repair my patient's cavities. I must admit that neither I nor any of my colleagues had very good resins or protocols for placing bonded resin (white fillings) but we were on our way.

About 10 years ago, a new patient came to my office with root canals having been done in ALL of his upper right teeth and few of them looked very well done. My treatment plan was to place some very large bonded white fillings in all of upper left teeth and place some crowns on the teeth that had recently done root canals. I don't see this patient very often but today I saw him because he was  complaining of pain in his upper right jaw. Sure enough, some of the poorly done root canals were re-infected and I referred the patient to Dr. Banchs, a fabulous root canal expert.

Before the patient left my office I examined the exceptionally large bonded white fillings in his upper left jaw and I was pleased to note that ALL of my restorations were still perfect  and the teeth were strong and healthy.

I strongly believe that dentists should place as few crowns as possible AND learn how to do very well done bonded white (resin) fillings using the proper protocol. When I examined my patient today, I felt that my approach to treating patients which is to keep as much natural tooth structure as possible is absolutely the best way to treat patients. My patients pay me to let them walk out of my office with as much healthy enamel as possible which, by the way, costs 1/4 of the cost of placing a crown.

I feel both validated and vindicated after seeing my bonded white fillings still going strong after 20+ years of service in my patient's mouths.