Some People ARE Getting It

Last week a successful person in Chicago sent me an email requesting a consult because she no longer will accept having her teeth cut down and (ultimately) destroyed by crowns.

Wait a second...How did a person in Chicago know 'enough to say enough is enough?'

She reads my blogs and she now KNOWS that crowns are used much too often especially when there are alternative materials and techniques that can DELAY and perhaps prevent the need for a crown.

It is my belief backed up by 25 YEARS of clinical experience with placing direct posterior resins using a rubber dam and strict attention to adhesive protocols, that the majority of crowns placed in patients mouths (NOT MY PATIENTS) can and should be avoided until the patient reaches middle age (50+ years old).

My inquiring email prospective patient asked me BLUNTLY, "Why do dentists want to do so many crowns?"

To digress a moment. Dr. James Andrews is the foremost sports medicine surgeon in the country. Six or so years ago he was interviewed by the New York Times and was asked why so many MRIs are done. His response to the reporter was, "There is nothing that I can learn from an MRI that I couldn't learn by talking to a patient, touching a patient or asking them to perform a task." The TIMES reporter probed further and asked again, 'Then why are so many MRIs done?" To his credit Dr. Andrews told the truth when he said, "It is the money."

Why are so many crowns done instead of direct posterior resins, (my restoration of choice)?
There are several reasons besides the money.

1. Dentists have been told over and over that resins aren't good materials for large posterior resins.
2. The literature shows that the average (and in my opinion, poorly done) resin filling lasts only 7 years. ) My resins are lasting 20+ years)
3. Many dentists have never been taught how to properly place a posterior direct resin and therefore the resins are not done correctly for long term service.
4. 95% of dentists do not use a RUBBER DAM for placing posterior resins despite all manufacturers demands that a DAM be used for complete isolation.
5. Insurance companies know how poorly done posterior resins are done and refuse to pay for them beyond what a mercury filling cost.

So why so many crowns: It IS the money.

Again in my practice a crown fee is $1750. Most of the time my patients are having posterior resins instead of crowns at a fee of $345-$400..

So you see. It is NOT ABOUT THE MONEY.

Hey it is YOUR tooth structure that is being ground down...Not in MY mouth, My staff's mouth, my friend's mouth or my patient's mouth.

Why are millions of implants done? Because, in my opinion and from my vast clinical experience, so many teeth are cut down for crowns and when the crowns fail, they take the tooth with it.

So the lady in Chicago got wind of a what an old dentist is doing in Saratoga Springs and is ready to make the trip.