Dental CE Course: Treating the Worn Dentition

Course Objectives:

Wear patients present some of the most challenging treatment considerations dentists face. Fear of the severe wear case failing can cause dentists to hesitate in treatment, doubt the appropriate next step, and often refer a potentially lucrative case. This course will give you a solid foundation in what to look for, how to plan and how to predictably treat worn dentitions.

Participants Will Learn:

-How the etiology of the tooth wear is the key to the prognosis of treatment, and how to identify the patterns of wear created by the different etiologies and what it means to the treatment plan and long term outcome
-The different theories about tooth wear from grinding and what current literature tells about each theory and our ability to alter the grinding behavior, with special emphasis on modern research about bruxism
-To understand how tooth position, gingival levels, papilla levels, and the occlusion can change with tooth wear, and what that means to the potential treatment options
-To determine whether the vertical dimension may have changed with the tooth wear or not, and how to determine a new vertical dimension if necessary
-How to structurally manage short teeth as a result of severe wear
-A systematic and simple to follow step by step approach to treatment planning patients with tooth wear
-Why and when orthodontics, periodontal surgery, or orthognathic surgery may be indicated in patients with significant tooth wear, and how to choose among the different options available
-How to maximize the predictability of treatment, and spread out the cost, by using composite for trial therapy and long term phasing of severe wear cases
-What material choices to consider in the restoration of anterior and posterior teeth in patients with severe wear, and how to discuss longevity with patients
-How to determine and create the most predictable occlusal schemes for patients who grind to minimize future failure
-How to integrate implants into the treatment of patients with significant wear from grinding and maximize predictability