Category Archives: Tips & Tricks

How to Document Screw Access Position Under Cemented Implant Crowns.

While screw-retained implant crowns are favored today, certain clinical situations dictate cemented crowns on custom abutments.  I won’t be going into the different scenarios that favor screw-retained over cemented.  Nor will this article cover the advantages and disadvantages of each … Continue reading

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The Power of Photography (and a quick mock-up)

A quick blog post here.  A recently new patient has had some basic restorative treatment.  I asked him about his front chipped teeth.  The initial chips were caused by an accident when he was a kid.  He never had them … Continue reading

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How to Add a Virtual Black Contraster to Your Intraoral Photos

If you’ve been doing intraoral photography for cosmetic cases, you’re likely familiar with the black contraster.  If you’ve only read articles about cosmetic dentistry, you’ve likely seen the photos of a restored arch with a black background to show off … Continue reading

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Trim Your Own Dies???

Who does THAT?  Why would you? I started my own practice renting space in an existing dental office (shared space).  The other dentist took a lot of pride in his work, and deservedly so.  One of the many things he … Continue reading

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Golden Proportion Template for Treatment Planning and Case Presentation

There are a number of ways you can use Golden Proportion to plan or present an anterior cosmetic case: You could just print a photo of a retracted view of the anterior teeth and draw on it directly with a … Continue reading

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Using Dental Memes to Educate Patients on Social Media

This post will be very short!  Earlier today, a dentist friend posted a dental meme on Facebook, designed to educate patients about the effects of the progression of decay.  I saw it and thought, “That’s pretty good.  I like it.” … Continue reading

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Provisionalization of Immediate Implants With Screw-Retained Crowns

It’s been a while since I’ve written, and even longer since I posted a technique / case presentation article. One of my long-time patients had a 3-unit bridge (#12 – 13 – 14) fail due to unrestorable recurrent caries under … Continue reading

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Closing a Diastema – With Bioclear Matrices

Just a quick and dirty case presentation. A new patient came to me last week for a consultation about “bonding” a space between her teeth. She had been to a another dentist who had closed the space with “bonding.”  It … Continue reading

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Habit #7 of Highly Effective Dentists: Sharpen Your Explorer!

In Stephen Covey’s seminal book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” the seventh habit is described as “Sharpen the Saw.”  In the book, “sharpen the saw” is a metaphor for self-improvement.  In the case of your professional development, and … Continue reading

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I Never Use Retraction Cord

Except when I do… I rarely use retraction cord for crown preps, as I try to keep my margins equigingival or supragingival.  If I need retraction, I’ll usually reach for my Picasso Lite diode laser first.  Or, I may use … Continue reading

Posted in Case Presentation, Clinical Technique, Dental Product Reviews, Tips & Tricks | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments