Smile balancing through functional tooth reshaping

According to Gordon Christensen, dental equilibration (bite balancing) might be one of the most widely UNDER-utilized services in dentistry. – JADA April 2005 136(4): 497–499; Teeth that fit together correctly do not require the additional muscular activity needed to shift the jaw to the side or squeeze unilaterally when one side hits first.  The art of…

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Myth about most “metal-free” dental crowns

As a restorative dentist, I place equal value on predictability, longevity, comfort, biocompatibility, and aesthetics.  One soap box I don’t mind stepping on is the busting down the metal-free myth about the more popular new ceramic crown options. The two most popular types of all-ceramic crowns for back teeth are made from aluminum oxide and…

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Hard raw-foods diet leads to fractured fillings; gold chewing surface sustains bite

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…

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Accidental fork bite threatens lower teeth

This lovely 90-year-old patient has kept most of her teeth her whole life. She flosses twice daily and uses fluoride every night! One day at a luncheon with friends, she accidentally bit a salad fork, and felt two of her lower front teeth become rather loose and painful to the touch. After determining that the…

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