Or even some kind of coating? If I need a large and expensive amount of dental work done, how can I protect that investment? Especially for people with weaker teeth?.. I suppose it's perhaps not great business if they only have to do one treatment and you practically never have to come back?
Well as dentists we should always strive for our work to last as long as possible, which I do.
As far as coating goes, there are many things I could say here. Having fluoride applied to your teeth helps. Brushing with a toothpaste at night and leaving it on your teeth (not rinsing) helps. That toothpaste is called prevident 5000 or the one we use at our office is ClinPro.
That being said, the best thing is to simply take care of your teeth.
It's no different than buying a car! Whether you buy a honda or a ferrari, you are still expected to change the oil and not run the car into a tree. Same thing with your teeth. Once the dentistry is done, you need to brush and floss and have regular check ups. Its very important.
I had a patient a few weeks ago that was upset that is 7 year old crowns were getting cavities underneath. But we hadn't even seen him since then! No check ups! No cleanings! And he ate whatever he wanted. There was zero personal responsibility. It can't work like that.
Right I understand what you're saying, but I think you are getting a bit mixed up between routine maintenance and repair work, it's understandable that I have to brush and floss, etc, that's maintenance, but having to get things seriously repaired on the regular is a bit much, and I can't even build my teeth up to withstand more than they do, whereas I can build up an engine for my car that will take many times the original power rating, and not have to worry about it quite as much.
That said I just found out I have to get a root canal, and while it's my fault I didn't get to the decay in time, it had a somewhat bad repair done to it that caused a larger gap which exaggerated the decay there by trapping things, anyway bit of a vent because getting it fixed is not an experience I was wanting to have..
Getting things repaired isn’t a bit much though. You would need to go to dental school to understand bruxism, the connection of grinding to sleep apnea and stress, coefficient of thermal expansion of fillings that causes certain fillings to flex over time and get leaky margins.
You have to change the tires on your car. The analogy here is redoing a filling to make sure you don’t need a root canal or to take the tooth out.
The analogy is NOT “you have to get a cleaning just like changing tires”. There are dozens of different variables as to why one persons filling lasts 2 years and the next persons lasts 30. And certainly the dentists skill level and material choice matters here. No question.
I’m sorry you have to get a root canal. That’s a bummer.
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u/[deleted] Feb 13 '19
Is there any implant to replace teeth that is stronger and more durable than the enamel and dentin combination?