Prosthetic Care Form
Overview:
No medical or dental procedure is entirely predictable and that this includes prosthodontic treatment. It is critical to consider that all dentistry is an artificial replacement for natural teeth. Like all healing arts, restorative and prosthodontic dental results cannot be guaranteed, nor outcomes accurately predicted. While our treatment philosophy is evidence-based, the available scientific literature and our application of understanding is constantly evolving and being re-evaluated.
Long-term success of your treatment is care-dependent and depends in part upon the potential risk factors you personally face, such as:
Replacement of crowns or restorations have a cumulative pulpal trauma affect, possibly resulting in the need for root canal treatment.
Teeth that have been compromised by extensive caries (decay) may have a questionable restorative prognosis due to lack of remaining tooth structure. Additionally, restorative margins may end on tooth root surfaces, making teeth more sensitive to hot or cold.
Esthetics and function depends on healthy gums, bone and teeth. The fewer the number of teeth, the less bone supporting those teeth (quality and quantity of remaining teeth) can directly affect short and long term prosthodontic treatment.
Patient who exhibit high occlusal forces may be at greater risk for fracture or catastrophic failure of prosthesis due to stress concentration and applied forces that are beyond the capacity of the selected material to withstand.
Pre-existing implant positions may compromise restoration design due to material thickness, prosthetic requirements, etc.
Neuromuscular coordination may cause cheek, lip, tongue biting or difficulty stabilizing prosthesis during function
Accommodation:
Comprehensive prosthetic treatment (dental rehabilitation) can make patients excessively aware of their bite or esthetics since it is new and different from the previous condition. Whether this is expressed depends on the patient’s ability to adapt to the new restorations and bite. Adapting to an artificial prosthesis is a very individual situation. Multiple adjustments may be required to help during this process. Reestablishing functional tooth contacts requires an adaptive period of time that varies from patient to patient (i.e. this time period is not predictable for individual patients).
Getting the best possible results:
Adhering to recommended follow-up schedule to monitor and maintain the level of health achieved with treatment
Perform the necessary hygiene procedures as directed
Eliminating oral habits that can break or damage your restorations
Modifying diet to accommodate prosthesis (i.e. smaller pieces, chewing longer or bilaterally)
Patience and commitment to adapting after delivery
