In today’s focus on dentistry let’s talk about metal free dentistry, all porcelain dentistry that has no metal in it. Is that something that would work for you?
Hi, I’m Dr. Paul Henny, and let’s spend a few minutes talking about kind of a new topic in dentistry, a topic that we call within the profession, ‘all ceramic’ dentistry or ‘metal-free’ dentistry.
Dentistry that is new, mostly because of some of the computerized technologies that have been developed, over the last fifteen or so years, some aspects of the fabrication of dental crowns, for instance, can now be made with the aid of computers. We can now have kind of mini milling machines where we can mill out crowns of teeth, and that we can laminate those on top by hand various porcelains that make those teeth look incredibly real.
We’ve actually reached a point now, in cosmetic dentistry, where the materials that we use and the techniques that we use actually replicate the way nature looks almost exactly. It’s fascinating and it’s exciting from a dentist’s point of view to be able to have these capacities because 20 years ago, 30 years ago, we could only get it close, and a lot of times we’d have to tell patients, ‘well that’s just the best we can do. I know it doesn’t look completely natural but that’s the best we can do with what we have’.
That gap has been completely bridged now. We now have materials and methods that make front teeth—an individual front tooth, for instance—look almost completely natural, sitting against or next to a natural tooth. If the dentist that you’re working with right now doesn’t have those capacities or doesn’t have that skill set yet or isn’t interested in maybe working in this more artistic, creative area of dentistry, then you may want to consider seeking out a dentist that has that skill set. There are a number of us around. This is the kind of thing that I do pretty regularly, almost every week.
If it’s the kind of thing you’d like to talk about, I’d be happy to do that with you. You can call me at (540) 744-1577. I hope to hear from you.”
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