What is Biomimetic Dentistry?
Biomimetic dentistry is a type of tooth conserving dentistry that treats weak, fractured, and decayed teeth in a way that keeps them strong and seals them from bacterial invasion.
Translated literally, biomimetic dentistry means to copy what is life-like. Nature has provided the most successful and ideal properties to our natural teeth, so when restoring damaged, broken, and decayed teeth, the goal is to return the tooth to its original strength, function, and esthetics. Biomimetic dentistry accomplishes all of this in a conservative, strong, and attractive approach.
In dental practices around the world, Biomimetic Dentistry has practically eliminated cutting teeth down for crowns and destructive root canal treatment.
Patients are happier and often spend much less compared to traditional dental treatment.
Why choose Biomimetic Dentistry over Traditional?
Believe it or not, completely destroying healthy tooth structure is seldom a necessary treatment option in dentistry. While you may love your shiny new crown, it fails to compete with the proven alternatives available with biomimetic dentistry.
Biomimetic Dentistry provides conservative solutions to even the most complex dental problems. While we have not abandoned traditional dentistry altogether, our goal is to first explore alternatives to dental crowns, root canals and other unnecessarily invasive procedures.
Traditional dentists often go the easy route, opting to perform treatments such as filing a moderately healthy tooth down and restoring it with a crown. However, “restoring” in this case is a bit of a misnomer. What the dentist is actually doing is replacing the tooth with an artificial covering. A crown should be reserved for a tooth that is already ground down beyond repair, yet many traditional dentists continue to create the scenario where a crown becomes the only viable option.
Tooth Conserving Dentistry
With Biomimetic dentistry, only the damage and decay is removed, and your final restoration is bonded to the healthy natural tooth structure. The final restoration is often referred to as an inlay or onlay restoration. There is no extra removal of healthy structures to fit a crown and the result is a conservative and strong final restoration.
Can prevent unnecessary root canals. Most Biomimetic Dentists report over 90% reduction in the number of root canals their patients receive. Removing excessive amounts of healthy tooth structure for a crown can inevitably result in sensitivity and irritation to the vital tooth which will require root canal treatment. By limiting removal of healthy tooth structure, Biomimetic Dentistry significantly reduces the necessity for root canal treatments. This is paramount to long term success and retention of your natural teeth.
Minimizes Shrinkage & Stress. Anytime a dental filling is performed, the filling shrinks as the light is applied which can result in gap formation in the filling, or shrinkage stresses are absorbed by the tooth. The Biomimetic approach minimizes shrinkage stresses with proper technique and use of the finest dental materials available based on scientific research.
Is Biomimetic Dentistry cost effective?
Biomimetic dentistry provides an excellent economic benefit. Upon mastering these techniques, the dentist can deliver a higher level of care at a lower cost to the patient. With biomimetic tooth-conserving techniques, we are often able to perform procedures that are less likely to result in catastrophic tooth loss for the patient, in the long term, conserving economic resources for the patient.
