Toothy friends: Here are some very useful key points I picked up from Chris Orr’s fantastic TubulesLive this week titled ‘Beyond Smile Design: Planning the whole mouth for function and aesthetics’:

• A comprehensive assessment of the whole mouth, including diagnosis, is a part of risk management. Only decide upon the treatment plan once you have gathered all the information. Although tempting, it’s important not to jump into planning how we are going to do the treatment before considering the full picture.
• The ideal treatment plan is a balance of aesthetics, conservative treatment and predictability.
• Plan the case tooth by tooth. Consider the categories of dental, periodontal and missing teeth. Take into account past disease as well as current disease.
• Indirect restorations are far more invasive than direct restorations. Try and achieve what the patient wants in the kindest way to the tooth!
• The patient’s adaptive capacity is an important consideration.
• For large cases, the interim period of provisional restorations is essential to allow for predictable definitive treatment.

General Dental