Conservative dentistry and naturally sustaining lifestyles go together, and as such, many of the people attracted to our practice focus on their nutrition and overall health. This patient eats a strict raw-foods diet, including very hard foods like raw carrots and almonds. Though amalgam filling material has a compressive strength (aka, ability to resist biting pressure) > 300 MPa, compared to that of 250 for natural tooth material, the patient was still able to break the filling through regular chewing.
In reviewing her options, this patient chose the longest lasting restoration available for her condition: onlays and crowns with gold chewing surfaces. The design of the gold margins toward the front of the mouth shows only a minimal display of metal. The patient is comfortably and confidently enjoying her fruits and nuts again.
