Buyer's Guide Update: Alloys, cements, and crowns

Dear Buyer's Guide Update Member,

Despite the increasing emphasis on preventive dentistry, restorations remain the nuts and bolts of general dentistry. The longevity of a dental restoration -- whether direct or indirect -- depends on many factors:

• Patient factors: size and location of the restoration, chewing habits and loads, level of oral hygiene and maintenance, and systemic conditions that can change the amount of saliva and its chemistry.
• Materials factors: strength, wear resistance, tolerance to water, dimensional stability, and color stability.
• Procedural factors: size and depth of the lesion, ability to prevent contaminating the lesion surface with saliva and blood, and ability to access the affected tooth and tooth surface.

All of these factors should be taken into consideration and discussed with your patients when making treatment decisions.

To help you filter through the hundreds of restorative products on the market today, this issue of the DrBicuspid.com Buyer's Guide Update focuses on three categories of restorative materials: alloys/amalgams, cements and adhesives, and crowns. To view the products listed, click on the categories below:

• Dental Materials -- Alloys/Amalgams
• Dental Materials -- Cements and Adhesives
• Dental Materials -- Crowns

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