Changing objectives in periodontal prosthetic rehabilitations: 

Dentistry that is esthetic, comfortable and survives long term and minimizes health risks to the patient is an important clinical objective.  The knowledge within dental science, practice and technology has dramatically expanded leading to better quality; artistry and more standards based clinical applications.  Ceramics are the most consistently predictable esthetic dental material.  Today dentists can offer more treatment options for patient’s complex problems. With advances in digital design, CAD CAM, dental implants and new generations of dental ceramics, one can ask if the basic tenants in education and treatment being overridden.  If specialty care is ignored where will the referral patterns be in the future?  What needs to be best taught and mastered by students today?

Understanding methods to manage simple and complex restorative issues are critical to improving patient acceptance and even long term ceramic success.  Methods to integrate the efforts of laboratory technologists and managing occlusion and patient’s desires can have a profound impact in the practice of dentistry.

The lithium disilicate e. max and zirconia mono-layered all-ceramic material is changing dentistry and the realization of long-term ceramic survival.  Complex dentistry is being resolved principally with single unit restorations in face of the successful history in treating the complex patient with splinted metal ceramic restorations.

Understanding methods to manage simple and complex restorative issues are critical to improving patient acceptance and long term treatment success. 

A story of a tooth: from a restoration to an implant. Which one is complication-free?: 

The progressive shift towards minimally invasive dentistry is obvious. The ultimate goal is to preserve as much of the tooth structure as possible and extend pulpal vitality. Another noticeable switch in restorative dentistry is metal-free restorations. These tooth-colored restorations must survive in demanding multi-factorial oral conditions and thus some failures related to technical and/or biological aspects are anticipated.

The presentation will overview the findings of clinical studies on the survival of glass ceramic complete and partial coverage restorations. It will then present the findings on the incidence of endodontic therapy after receiving either complete or partial coverage glass ceramic restorations. And finally, it will talk about the terminal treatment modality – replacement of a tooth with an implant. Is it a complication-free solution? What should a clinician expect with implant-retained restorations and how can the complications be minimised will be discussed.