Recent Articles

You Got ME!

This 58-year-old male recently came into my practice for a restorative evaluation. He has a history of nocturnal bruxism and also has evidence of some erosive process that is affecting the facial surfaces of his teeth. If you note where … Read more

Crown Removal

Dr. Spear shares his technique for removing permanent restorations that have been cemented temporarily.      

DRAWING THE LINE ON DENTAL INSURANCE

It’s easy to lose sight of now, but the introduction of widespread dental insurance around 40 years ago was a great turning point for dentistry. By covering patients for at least a sizeable portion of routine dental care, it got … Read more

THE 2ND PIECE TO THE PUZZLE IN SHADE-TAKING: THE OBJECT

Let’s talk about the second piece of the shade-taking puzzle: The object. Teeth interact differently with light than many other objects in nature. Teeth fluoresce. This means that they will emit visible light when exposed to ultraviolet light. To make … Read more

Setting Condylar Inclination on the SAM Articulator

YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IT TO SEE IT, PART 2

Remember that blog post from my partner, Dr. Glen Wysel, about his trip with his wife, Lisa, to Guatemala to visit the site of the clinic we’re helping to build there? Many of you were quite moved by his recounting … Read more

The first piece to the puzzle in shade taking: The Light

In my last blog we discussed the four pieces to the shade-taking puzzle. Let’s take the first piece: The light. There are two aspects to this variable that we need to keep in mind: light quality and light quantity. Light … Read more

A GOOD DAY

Anytime I get all the preps in my impression, I’m ecstatic – even more so when it’s this many preps. Alas, I must confess that the distal margin on tooth #2 had a little fold in it, so I had … Read more

A Special 2012 Message from Imtiaz

I have been pondering for some time the right message I wanted to communicate as we enter the new year. After all, 2011 was a challenging year for a lot of us, and I think it’s important that we have … Read more

DIGITAL DENTURES

I had an interesting visit to a company here in Scottsdale that is fabricating “digital” dentures. The technique is based on impressions that are stitched to an interarch measurement and positioning device that lets the clinician set the position of … Read more