What are your dental new year's resolutions for 2018


My office was closed for ten days over the holidays  and I have had  time to ponder what changes to make in my practice for the upcoming year. Here is what I have come up with so far.

New Years resolutions are about making changes, so here goes: I have two achievable goals (dental that is)

First,  I will  Try making more lithium disilicate crowns and all Zirconium crowns. I have made some for my patients last year and I was pleased with the results. That being the case, I plan on using both more as a treatment option in 2018. Even though they have worked, I have learned through experience to introduce change slowly since one never knows the full story until enough time has gone by. That being said both of these restorations have been around for years and many dentists are using them as their favorite "goto" restorations, when full coverage is needed. Admittedly, they are not the best choice for extremely broken down teeth that have subgingival margins. Lithium disilicate preparations call for a shoulder/chamfer prep and may ` not work well for preps that go deep under the gums.

Also full zirconium restorations are even less kind to the opposing teeth than porcelain is. What kind of wear will be experienced long term in the arches opposing zirconium restorations? Other than this issue, I must say I like full zirconium restorations since their preparation can allow for a 45 degree sloping chamfer which to my mind approximates a bevel. Bevels are advantageous for a finish line because they both preserve tooth structure and allow the restoration to finish on sound tooth structure. This is extremely important for badly broken down teeth. Also these restorations are amenable to cementation using a dental cement ( Fuji I seems to work well)  and do not need a composite cement for luting.

I am not a big fan of bonding full crowns when there is no enamel to bond to and my restoration is in a high stress posterior placement since I worry that the bond to dentin is not strong enough long term. That being the case, I have observed that some of  the bonded onlays I did in the early 1990's are still in service and seem to working well ( at least those that haven't fractured).

For my second, I plan on bringing a dentist or two into my office to share my facility. As I have indicated in some prior posts, Group Dental Practice seems to be the wave of the future and as a solo practitioner who plans on keeping up with current trends, I will have an easier time if I have collegues practicing in my facility so that we can share ideas and some of the overhead. I plan on offering a essentially Turn Key Option to my prospective tenants- allowing them to use my Dentrix and Dexis software and technolgies ( digital sensor, Carivu, and Dexcam 4.

I think that maybe enough resolutions ( at least for today) and these two are certainly achievable.  Of course I have other possibilities ( lose 5 lbs, work out more, and watch less TV) but I am going to stick to dental resolutions in this post






from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2018/01/what-are-your-dental-new-years.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

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