Today’s message looks at one of the miracles of modern dentistry: the dental restoration.
Let’s pretend you are a biomedical engineer working in the field of dentistry before the conception of dental restorations. The men and women of your generation who have missing or damaged teeth want to repair or replace them with a man-made substitute. You have been hired to find or create a material that can be used to manufacture fillings, crowns, and dental bridges.
Consider the numerous physical and chemical requirements of this incredible substance. It must tolerate forces of 162 pounds per square inch (PSI), hundreds of times a day–day after day, year after year. It must be resistant to cracking and chipping. But there’s a catch regarding its durability; it must not damage the enamel on opposing teeth. This material must also maintain its size and shape and be resistant to shrinking.
It must be bondable to living tooth structures as well as other materials needed for specific appliances. It must be biocompatible with the soft tissues in the mouth as well as tooth enamel, dentin, and bone. It can’t create allergic reactions in the wearers. It must be corrosion-resistant to the chemicals in saliva, foods, and beverages. It must resist infection regardless of ever-present bacteria in the mouth. And it can’t contain toxic chemicals that could be absorbed into the bloodstream.
And we haven’t even touched on the esthetics yet. Ideally, this incredible material would match perfectly with genuine teeth in color, opacity, and translucence.
Of course, we know that such an entity exists because dental restorations have been around for a long time. Currently, there are many materials used alone or in combination including porcelain, ceramic, and metals such as gold and silver amalgam. Though the metals are extremely strong and malleable, they don’t meet some patient’s esthetic requirements and are used mainly for back teeth.
It is interesting to note that porcelain, one of the ideal materials used in modern restorations, was developed over 2000 years ago in China.
I wonder if the ancient Chinese porcelain originators who developed the techniques for molding, firing, and painting the beautiful tableware and vases revered around the world ever imagined that their invention would live beautifully in the mouths of millions of men and women more than twenty centuries later!
Cary Family Dental offers dentures, emergency dental care, KoR whitening, dental crowns, and sedation dentistry. For more information, call Cary Family Dental today at 919-371-4428 or visit https://www.carydental.com/meet-dr-allan-acton/.
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Contact Cary Family Dental:
919-371-4428
Location (Tap to open in Google Maps):
1149 Kildaire Farm Rd
Cary, North Carolina
27511
