Staged Reconstruction for a Severely Worn Dentition

When patients are constrained financially to receive dental work, a staged approach can be an effective way for enabling treatment to proceed. In this case, a patient who had been in the practice for about 10 years and had a severely worn and eroded dentition finally opted to receive treatment in stages. A systematic approach was used to determine the proper postoperative position of the teeth. The subsequent treatment plan included the use of porcelain onlays and full-coverage crowns in the mandibular posterior along with provisional direct composite restorations in the maxillary dentition; the composites would be transitioned to porcelain crowns as the patient's finances would allow.

Bonded functional esthetic prototype: an alternative pre-treatment mock-up technique and cost-effective medium-term esthetic solution

As the economy has receded in recent years, many patients have been inclined to reject dental treatment beyond what they feel is the minimal amount necessary. Increasingly, there has been reluctance to take on the expense of full-mouth restorations and time-consuming procedures. Consequently, clinicians can benefit from innovative, conservative, interim solutions that enable them to provide segment treatment with long-term stability and esthetics, with lower initial cost. The bonded functional esthetic prototype (BFEP) allows fabrication of up to 14 teeth from composite in 1 hour, providing either a pre-treatment restoration or a long-term provisional solution until further treatment can be completed. As demonstrated herein, the BFEP enables superb function, stability, and esthetics in the interim while dispersing the cost of definitive treatment over time.

[Economic evaluation in oral care. Methods and examples in restorative dentistry]

This article briefly outlines the principles of economic evaluation in dentistry. It discusses the different types of analyses, such as cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis and cost-utility analysis. Furthermore, it makes clear when these analyses are most appropriate for use. Having a basic understanding of the most common analyses can be helpful to make choices between different interventions. Increasing demand for dental interventions and limited budgets necessitate the allocation of scarce resources efficiently. By identifying, measuring, valuing and comparing costs and outcome of interventions, economic evaluation can also help patients and carers in choosing between interventions. The article gives some examples in restorative dentistry to explain the relevance of economic evaluation.