Managing Tooth Wear

Description

General dental practice has never been more interesting, and the field of tooth wear satisfies so many aspects of the skills we are trained to use: applying a medical diagnostic model to dentistry, design and artistry, sculpture and engineering, use of innovative technology, and the science of dental materials. It requires detective work and lateral thinking, empathy, and listening. Most of all, it’s about offering confidence and reassurance to patients who are often discovering for the first time that chemical and physical forces are damaging their teeth. But not all tooth wear needs treatment. How then, does a clinician make the distinction, and what drives us to intervene? Does a patient believe they have a problem, and what is the distinction between physiologic and pathologic wear? Was it necessary when more conservative interdisciplinary solutions would be more appropriate? How can we combine interdisciplinary dentistry, such as orthodontics, to offer less aggressive...