Dental CE Course: Worn Dentition

Prerequisite: Facially Generated Treatment Planning, Occlusion in Clinical Practice, Restorative Design, Anterior Restorative Design

Course Objectives

Enjoy increased predictability and longevity in your dentistry by basing occlusal design decisions on how the patient created the wear. This workshop focuses on observation, diagnosis, etiology and appropriate treatment for wear patients. Discussion topics include occlusal design customized to increase predictability and making the decision between anterior guidance and group function. The discussions are blended with hands-on exercises that allow participants to ground learning in doing by “treating” selected wear patients on mounted casts.

Hands-on Exercises:

-Fabricating a shell temporary at the correct vertical dimension on a dentoform

-Constructing an incisal guide table and using it to perform a diagnostic wax-up on a SAM III articulator

-Equilibration on a mannequin to include creating protrusive and lateral group function

-Fabricating an occlusal plane indicator

-Fabricating a composite “snap-on” mockup

Participants Will Learn:

-Diagnosis and treatment planning of wear patients, including etiologies of wear, patterns of wear and determining when interdisciplinary treatment is required

-How to design the occlusion best suited to what a patient does with their teeth

-Managing esthetic outcomes based on how tooth position, gingival levels and occlusion change as teeth wear

-A thorough understanding of vertical dimension, and when and how to change it

-Differences between multiple interdisciplinary treatment options

-Verifying diagnosis and treatment planning through appliance therapy, direct composites and provisionals to optimize predictability

-Phasing complex treatment plans so that patients move forward without compromising care

-Restorative techniques and materials specific to severe wear patients

-How to treatment plan occlusion that creates the greatest chance of success

24 CE Credits