🦷 Is Modern Dentistry unable to properly comprehend DENTAL LONGEVITY?
The Case for Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART):
When the thought of visiting the dentist comes to the mind of majority of the people they imagine something:
The drill.
The sound.
The vibration.
The injection.
The anxiety.
But what about when the same tool that was supposed to repair your tooth is instead injuring your tooth?
It is the question patients are increasingly becoming uncomfortable with.
And it can transform completely your perceptions of dental care.
The Secret Issue of High-Speed Drilling.
In the contemporary restorative dentistry practice, high-speed mechanical exercises are “standard care” in the removal of decay prior to fillings, crowns or root canal treatments.
The supposition has never been complicated:
Eradicate the decays ruthlessly. Fill the space. Problem solved.
However, recent studies in the last few decades have revealed otherwise more complex.
High-speed drilling:
Generates heat
Creates vibration
The crack generates microscopic cracks in the dentin.
Ability to stress the pulp (living center of the tooth).
In many cases, destroys healthy structure as well as decay.
The internal trauma can also be very deleterious to the lifespan of the tooth even when the procedure seems successful.
Most patients are unaware of the fact that:
A filling usually results to a larger filling in the future.
Crowns may be caused by bigger fillings.
Root canals may result because of crowns.
Root canals may result into extraction or implants.
This is also referred to as the restorative failure spiral.
It puts one question to the fore:
Are we actually restoring teeth – or gradually replacing them?
Teeth Are Not concrete but Living Biological Structures.
You have no steel teeth.
They are living, hydrated, life giving structures that are designed to:
Flexes a bit under pressure.
Respond to stimuli
Maintain internal vitality
Potentially a lifetime Last decades
Even in little places that natural integrity may be damaged when excessive mechanical force is applied.
Not aggression, but preservation can be the wiser way in the long run.
What Is Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART)?
Atraumatic Restorative Treatment Atraumatic Restorative Treatment, or simply ART, is a non-surgical form of dentistry that is intended to:
Remove decay gently
Get as much healthy tooth structure as possible.
Avoid high-speed drilling
Often avoid anesthesia
Fix the tooth using adhesive dental materials such as glass ionomer cement.
ART uses mostly instead of powered rotary instruments:
Hand instruments
Selective erosion of soft decay.
Filling substances that attach to the structure of the teeth by a chemical bond.
Yes, its often slower than drilling (but not always).
But it’s gentler.
And in most instances of premature to average decomposition, it can be more respectful of biology.
Why Isn’t ART Used Everywhere?
It is at this point where it gets interesting.
The traditional process of drills is:
Faster
Highly standardized
Included in insurance systems.
Entrenched in dental school education.
ART, by contrast:
Often (but not always) takes more time
Enacts the wonderful change of preservation.
Minimizes the use of harmful machinery.
Concentrates on genuine wellness speed.
Speed usually prevails in bustling insurance prone environments.
However, speed is not necessarily important to patients who are focused on total of teeth in the long term.
= SUCCESS (physical and total).
The Longevity Question
Majority of the population believes that teeth wear out.
Biologically, however, teeth are made to endure as long as the body, unless they are constantly undermined by the action of the primitive method.
This is because in case every invasive operation causes a minor decrease in structural integrity then it becomes important to reduce intervention.
That is the main concept of minimally invasive dentistry and ART:
Do only what is necessary. Preserve everything else.
Is ART Right for Everyone?
There is no universal dental strategy.
There are cases where:
Advanced damage
Structural collapse
Severe decay
Surgical needs
need additional rigorous care.
However, in most tedious restorative cases, the question that patients would want to ask is:
Have I exhausted least invasive alternatives?
What Patients Can Do Today
To be concerned with the longevity of your teeth, you should begin by asking better questions:
Is it possible to treat it without high speed drilling?
Is this cavity premature enough to be treated using minimally invasive care?
What extent of healthy tooth will be cut?
What are the consequences of this treatment in the long term?
In addition:
Keep teeth as clean as possible.
Restrict refined sugars and acidic food.
Arrange regular examinations.
Find providers who are willing to accept minimal philosophy.
In the future of the dentistry, it might not be about increased technology.
It may be about less trauma.
Another Vision of Dental Healing.
More patients are becoming increasingly concerned about the definition of standard care.
They are questioning: instead of taking pain, anxiety and progressive restorations as a given, they are enquiring:
Is there a healthier way?
Robert Godbout discusses this question in detail in The A.R.T. of Dental Healing, studying the research, philosophy, and long-term effects of the traditional drill-based dentistry.
The book gives you an in-depth view of: In case you want to maintain your natural teeth as long as possible.
Harms from drilling trauma.
The concepts of Atraumatic Restorative Treatment
The idea of longevity of the teeth.
The way patients can have more sovereignty of their oral health.
Final Thought:
Dentistry should NEVER be fearful!
It cannot be a matter of substitution.
It must concern conservation.
Your teeth are not machinery.
They are living structures.
And the manner in which they are now treated can decide whether they will be there with you decades to come.
In case you are interested in another vision of dental care, which is based on longevity, biology, and minimally invasive treatment, The A.R.T. of Dental Healing is a powerful place to start.
And thanks for stepping onto the new path of relaxing, enjoyable dental treatment that seeks to ensure that your teeth are as fit and well as all of you!
And happy!