intouch Magazine
- Sep 30, 2022

Restorative Options: Part 1

I frequently consult with patients who have endeavoured to do their homework around their choice of the type of dentistry they think they want and need. I say endeavoured because, realistically, in today’s digital world, how could someone outside of the dental industry research this topic?

The most likely possibilities are asking their friends (old fashioned method) and google (digital method).

If a little bit of information can be dangerous, with a fair degree of certainty, millions of pages of it would have to be potentially deadly (if not seriously misleading). Part of the problem in writing about the type of dentistry I do is that it is quite a niche area.

When I read about something that is in the niche category, I’m always looking for not only the benefits but also the downside.

One of the primary tenants of minimally invasive dentistry (MI) is that it is minimally invasive. This concept holds at its core that your tissues (especially ones that are not regenerative, like teeth) are incredibly valuable. Cutting away these tissues is an irreversible process. Furthermore, restoring your dental tissues, whether it be a crown, a filling, veneers or implants, is an expensive and complex process that has to survive in a VERY hostile environment – which brings me to an important downside of being minimally invasive (MI): Repairability.

Repairability and repurposing are critical factors in sustainability. If we are to sustain dental function, we must become more conservative in the way we handle dental tissues – treating these tissues as precious. In every plan that I make for my patients, there are the seeds of repairability – how to overcome some problems that can arise from being minimally invasive. Sometimes the problems arise from being too conservative, sometimes from patient factors and sometimes, plain mishaps.

Generally, whatever the problem, the solution is frequently assisted by having tooth structure that we managed to conserve.