Our case of the month for May is one involving tooth wear. Tooth wear is a very common problem caused buy a number of factors and usually a combination of them all. The most common cause is night time grinding or bruxism. This can be hugely damaging to teeth. Did you know that on average our teeth make contact for only about 10-20 minutes of the day. During night grinding, the average contact time is 4 hours! It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out this is far too much contact which will lead to loss of tooth enamel. Just take a look at our case:
Now the question is how to restore the tooth wear. Well, in the old days of dentistry, the damaged teeth would have been cut down for crowns or veneers. However, this simply destroys the rest of the tooth by stripping away the strongest tissue in the human body. We prefer minimally invasive dentistry to restore tooth wear. One of our techniques is the Dahl approach. In simple terms this is where the teeth are restored with direct composite restorations to replicate the previous anatomy of the teeth. This causes a disruption to the bite, however, over time adaptation occurs and the bite settles. This way, there is NO damage to the underlying tooth and the process is entirely reversible should you wish. Here are the after photographs:
If you suffer from tooth wear, the Dahl technique may well be for you. Non invasive, no needles, no pain and less costly. Treatment completed by Dr Nissit Patel. Photographs are the sole property of Dr Nissit Patel, any reproduction is strictly prohibited.
