This past weekend I attended a course in Charlotte,NC to study a 25 year old technology. Why study something that is a quarter of a century old? Easy! For the first 22 or so years the technology was impressive but mediocre despite the incredible marketing effort by the company.
Another reason I avoided the technology was because I sincerely believe that my job is to save your teeth for your entire life and cutting down teeth is not my idea of saving teeth.
So what is this improved 25 year old technology and why should I learn about it NOW?
The technology allows dentists to restore parts of teeth or the entire tooth without placing all of that gook in your mouth to take an impression. And, it allows the fabrication of parts or all of the tooth in a single visit. I had SIX crowns placed in MY MOUTH this year and I know how unpleasant taking an impression can be for a patient.
It has been my goal for the past almost 40 years to avoid placing crowns in patients under the age of 50 because I strongly believe that crowns in young people probably means that the teeth under the crowns will not survive until old age. Because the majority of my patients have very large direct posterior resins in their teeth, I may have run out of natural tooth structure to place another filling and a crown may be NECESSARY and I am looking down the road a few years to make sure treatment will be as comfortable as possible and functionally excellent.
Am I going to make the move to a technology that is now fabulous? I don't know yet as the cost is significant but it is my job to take care of you in the best way that I know how.
Because of YOU, I never stop learning.