Today’s challenge was a tooth #2 belonging to my former hygienist. An all-ceramic crown fractured in half and debonded. It had been endodontically treated before. The tooth was under-prepped occlusally and over-prepped and over-tapered axially, particularly on the distal. The existing prep had very little retention and resistance form…. really NONE. I couldn’t re-prep it as it was. I needed to recreate some of the lost tooth structure.
Three different views of the prep as it presented pre-operatively. Note the over-prepped axial surfaces.
So, I roughened / freshened the axial walls by “dusting” it with a diamond bur and removed a millimeter or two of the core build-up on the occlusal. I couldn’t get a metal Tofflemire band to engage the tooth. There was nothing for it to “grab,” as the tooth was turned into a “teepee” by the previous dentist. The band would just slip off as it was tightened. Then I found some old crown core forms in the back closet. They were made by Pentron. But, they’ve been discontinued! Editing to add: I found a similar product from EDS. Scroll down this EDS webpage page to see the product. But, the webpage lacks a “BUY” button for the core forms. Give them a call to order it. Continue reading
Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2016 The Dental Warrior® 
Last week, just before the hurricane was predicted to strike, my office manager texted me on a Tuesday evening, “Broke my #9 off at the gum line!” Yeah… not a good look for a cosmetically-oriented dental practice front desk, eh?
Dental care falls to the bottom of the priority list during a hurricane (unless they’re in pain… a lot of pain).
Many of you may have already heard about online companies offering do-it-yourself orthodontic clear aligners. For many of us, the instinctive reaction is to scoff or laugh at such a silly notion. Some will dismiss the news and suggest that P.T. Barnum had it right about a “sucker being born every minute.” I suppose the consensus might initially be summed up with the single-worded vernacular, “WhatevAR!” What’s next? Do your own crown preps? Tele-crowns?
This article has been sitting in the “draft” folder for a while. I’ve written, lectured, and pontificated many times about my position that dentists should be creating their own website content. I’m not saying they need to create the actual website. I’m talking about the CONTENT. 
In Stephen Covey’s seminal book, “
We all get phone calls and emails from prospective patients looking for a new dentist. Very often the only question these prospects ask is, “How much is ________ (a cleaning, a crown, an extraction, etc.).” Another common question is, “Do you take my insurance / discount plan?”
