Shawn O'Berry DDS
The Answer
The Tooth Comes Before the Procedure
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Traditional dentistry often begins by choosing a procedure:
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Small problem gets a filling.
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Large problem gets a crown.
At first, this seems reasonable.
But when the repair fails, the next procedure is usually bigger.
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Small filling becomes a larger filling.
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Larger filling becomes a crown, etc.
Each procedure may solve the immediate problem.
But each one can also remove more of the natural structure the tooth depends on.
That creates a strange situation:
We remove more of the tooth to make the repair stronger.
But in doing so, we may make the tooth itself weaker.
Begin With the Tooth
A different approach does not begin by choosing between a filling and a crown.It begins by understanding the tooth.
How much healthy structure remains?
Where is the tooth strong?
Where is it weak?
Why did the damage occur?
What forces are acting on it?
And what will give this tooth the best chance of surviving?
Only after answering those questions do we decide how to repair it.
Sometimes the answer may be similar to what traditional dentistry would recommend.
Sometimes it may be very different.
But the decision is now being made around the tooth—not around a predetermined procedure.
The goal is no longer to make the tooth fit the treatment.
The goal is to make the treatment fit the tooth.
The tooth comes first.
The procedure comes second.