Recently in Fixed Prosth Category

But when you're patient is anesthetized, they have no idea what you've done in their mouth.  When [as dental students working without assistants] you are working by yourself it is important to isolate the area where you are working.  I have tried everything, including the sphedopter [sp?] that was in our kits.  What I have learned is that the cotton roll is my friend, and if I'm doing any sort of opperative the rubber dam is the best thing going.

Here's the hypothetical situation:  You have had much dental work completed over the last 20 years of your life; several [7] crowns, a  3-unit bridge, root canal therapy, fillings, etc.  Excluding your wisdom teeth, you have had only 4 other extractions.  Two were not restored because they were in the very back on the same side [top and bottom], one was restored with the above stated bridge, and the other missing tooth is the reason you went to the dentist today.  After a complete exam and the necessary radiographs, you hear that several of your crowns [placed 10+ years ago] need to be remade.  In addition, one tooth is now unrestorable which will leave the left side with no molars and only one pre-molar on the top.  Your dentist says that 2 implant crowns would be the optimal treatment.  Is he right?

We are well aware of the hydro-dynamic theory of tooth sensitivity.  The dentin tubules that lie between the enamel [or cementum] and the pulp chamber are filled with fluid.  When they are opened [due to a cavity or a dentist] a greater amount of movement of the fluid is created.  This movement is created even after the tooth has been filled, because of several reasons, but most often because it wasn't sealed.  When this change in pressure is too great, it causes an action potential in the nerve to fire, illiciting a pain response.