Maximizing Dental Care with Efficient Esthetics

BY DAVID JULIANI, DDS, SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR CLINICAL OPERATIONS, SMILE PARTNERS USA

As busy practitioners, we are always looking for ways to minimize the time the patient spends in the chair while maximizing the predictable delivery of highly esthetic, long-lasting restorations.

From a business perspective, these improvements were developed to help the clinician to do more and better dentistry in less time, promoting the profitability of working more productively. However, simply working faster is not a solution to working efficiently unless these advancements are optimized from the ground up to work together as a coordinated system solution.

Working smarter

This is particularly true when it comes to direct composite restorations, which are the cornerstone of any dental practice. Using products and workflows that increase efficiency without compromising the quality and esthetics of the final restoration improves the profitability of these procedures and the profitability of the practice. Plus, it offers clinicians the satisfaction of providing patients with a great final outcome using the most efficient process.

Let’s face it, our patients want to get in and out of the chair as quickly as possible. The COVID years exacerbated patient desire for optimized efficiency in dental care with the same demands for highly esthetic, natural looking results.

Over the years many advancements have been made in an attempt to overcome the inefficiencies in the direct composite process from a multitude of technique sensitive steps to incremental layering and curing. Until now, refinements in direct composite materials, tools, and technology meant to streamline the process have been incremental with no real focus on the process as a whole. Improvements in light curing technology have shortened treatment times. Material science advances have minimized polymerization shrinkage, decreased tooth sensitivity, and increased the delivery of a final restoration that retains its esthetics over the years. Improvements in sculpting and polishing instruments have decreased the steps needed to manipulate composite materials and final polish to a high luster.

Today, we finally have fully coordinated product systems, such as Ivoclar’s Efficient Esthetic Workflow, that offer product-based solutions optimized to work together to streamline restorative posterior workflows. The workflow helps minimize chair time while maximizing the esthetics of our restorations. Composite materials such as Tetric PowerFill and Tetric PowerFlow have been reformulated to cure faster and harder without the shrinkage forces that cause sensitivity and marginal breakdown. New curing technology within the Bluephase PowerCure curing light works in tandem with the Tetric PowerFill and Tetric PowerFlow composites to cure a single 4mm layer in only 3 seconds, saving you valuable treatment time. New universal shade technology narrows selection to three shades within a composite family, limiting your inventory. Non-stick sculpting instruments and one-step polishers streamline placement and finishing of the final restoration.

Using a portfolio of materials, technology and instruments designed to work as a coordinated system reduces working steps for composite restorations in the posterior. It is estimated the working steps needed to restore a posterior tooth have been reduced by 50% to 60%, without sacrificing the final esthetics or durability of the final restoration. Over the course of a single day, using a systemized approach that optimizes efficiency offers the ability of practitioners to effectively see and treat more patients, which leads to higher productivity and increased profitability.

Maximize practice efficiency and profitability

Adopting an efficient esthetics approach in your practice not only maximizes your productivity and profitability, but also guarantees your team will be working more efficiently. Using a synchronized line of products means less confusion and stress on the part of your team. It also means that staff can be trained in one-third of the time to get them up to speed on treatment protocols, operatory set up and breakdown. The ability of staff to quickly set up treatment rooms with the necessary tools and materials is essential to practice efficiency. Having a synchronized line of products for treatment of a posterior restoration not only simplifies treatment room set up but also directly impacts inventory and inventory management, which helps reduce costs.

There are myriad ways to streamline procedures and increase efficiencies in the dental practice. Optimizing efficiencies in all areas of the practice from scheduling to billing, will help you and your team get the most out of every minute of the day and lead to a thriving practice.

Direct composite restorations were tackled here because they are the bread-and-butter procedure most often encountered in our dental practices. By simplifying and streamlining direct restorative procedures from isolation of the restorative site to bonding and curing of the composite while achieving high-quality esthetic restorations offer treatments you can perform with greater efficiency and predictability.

Most importantly, adopting an efficient esthetics approach optimizes the patient experience. Minimizing chair time while maximizing the esthetic and durability demands of the patient, builds patient/dentist trust and confidence.

Scan the QR code to learn more about the products included in Ivoclar’s Efficient Esthetics Workflow. These products can help make you and your team more effective and efficient.

Dr. David M. Juliani, DDS is the Senior Director for Clinical Operations for Smile Partners USA and maintains a private practice in Rochester Hills, Michigan. He is a national educator in the use of dental CAD/CAM technology and practice technology integration. A 1993 graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry, he completed a one year General Practice Residency, after which he served two years at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A CAD/CAM user since 2003, Dr. Juliani is a Cerec® basic and advanced trainer, Ivoclar KOL and beta tester, a member of the American Dental Association, Michigan Dental Association, and Academy of General Dentistry. For the ninth consecutive year, he has been listed as one of America’s Top Dentists by the Consumer Research Council of America, and one of Detroit’s Top Dentists by Hour Detroit Magazine