Your health comes first
When you think of your mouth as a gateway to your body’s overall health, it’s easy to understand why it’s so important to keep everything inside healthy and functioning.
Problems like damaged or missing teeth not only cause a lot of discomfort but can also cause even more serious issues in your mouth and elsewhere. That’s why dentists are so careful about selecting the right materials and suppliers for crowns, bridges and other products to restore the functions you need for your overall health.
In selecting materials today, dentists literally have a world of suppliers and products to choose from. They can tailor the restoration to each patient’s unique requirements far more than ever before, selecting just the right metal alloy, ceramic or other material for the job at hand.
It all comes down to what you need. The IdentAlloy/IdentCeram Council helps dentists find material manufacturers, suppliers and dental laboratories willing to verify and document that the materials specified for your restoration are what actually go into your mouth.
The list of companies that voluntarily take part in the Council’s program reads like a Who’s Who of the dental industry. So when your dentist shows you a certificate attesting to the source and composition of the materials used in the restoration you can be sure that he or she is working with a reputable company that puts your long-term health first.
What Dentists Look For In Restorative Materials
If you have the bad luck to damage or lose a tooth, your dentist will probably recommend some type of restoration to prevent the problem from getting worse while enabling you to continue eating what you like.
Today, dentists have a wide variety of restorative materials to choose from — some in use for thousands of years, others the product of highly advanced technologies.
To select a material to use in your restoration, your dentist will consider a variety of factors that are unique to you. He or she will look for the material offering the best combination of benefits in three major categories:
- Superior physical qualities: Dentists want to use materials that won’t make your mouth overly sensitive to hot or cold foods and drinks; won’t unduly expand or contract with temperature changes; and won’t wear away, weaken or dissolve under the mechanical and chemical stresses your teeth undergo each day. In addition, your dentist and the dental laboratory making the restoration will need a material that, for all its strength, is easily molded or cut into the exact shape of the tooth or tooth part that is being replaced.
- Outstanding biocompatibility: Your restoration will be in close, constant contact with the rest of your mouth as well as everything you eat and drink. Materials need to be selected that are compatible with the chemistry of your body, won’t irritate tissues or trigger an allergic reaction.
- Beautiful aesthetics: Dentists and patients want materials that look good, especially for highly visible restorations towards the front of the mouth. There, dentists will often specify a material that comes as close as possible to the particular shade, translucency and texture of its neighboring teeth.
To ensure that the material your dentist specifies is actually that which goes into your mouth and is recorded in your patient file, he or she can obtain free vertification through the IdentAlloy and IdentCeram certification program. Certificates are sent at no charge with materials from the leading dental materials manufacturers and suppliers and are available on request from dental labs.