Dr. Charles Mayo said, "Preventive dentistry can add 10 years to human life." The preventive dentistry spoken of here is very functional in nature. The result of this kind of dentistry is saving the teeth to continue chewing on as many natural teeth as possible. When preventive dentistry is carried to the optimal level, function is restored and maintained, and the health of the gum tissue, the underlying bone, and the jaws is optimized. The primary goal is the restoration of function as opposed to a very strong movement in dentistry today toward cosmetics only. When the function is restored properly, the cosmetics are beautiful. A common statement about teeth is “be true to your teeth or they will be eventually false to you”. Being true to you teeth means to understand their function and make well-informed choices about the care and maintenance of your teeth.

Bioesthetic Dentistry, essentially a true revitalization of someone's face, is the optimum health dentistry of today. It is based on the Ideal Human Dentognathic Model (hereafter called The Model). Observing and measuring beautiful human dentitions that showed little or no wear, in people over the age of 30, uncovered this Model. The late Dr. Robert L. Lee, a gnathologist, was the first to make those observations. In his quest to understand how the human dental system functioned in health, Dr. Lee drew upon his Master’s Degree in biology to study optimal biologic systems. He observed and recorded nature’s successful, long-lasting, unworn dentitions. Amazingly, the most outstanding dentitions had the SAME features in common. This recurring phenomenon facilitated construction of The Model. His discoveries led to a change in how he practiced dentistry. By applying the qualities he observed in the successes of nature to his patients, he found his cases to be very predictable, functional, esthetic, and stable—superior to any treatment he had previously provided. While the discovery of The Model is very recent in terms of dental history, awareness, and practice, it presumably has existed since the very beginnings of humanity. The Model, being a composite of outstanding human dentognathic systems, provides objective, relational proportions to serve as an ideal treatment goal. Each element has a specific form and function. As humans vary in size, so do the treatment solutions. The functional relationships, however, remain the same. Similar to dental schools, postgraduate dental clinicians have not been curious about people with ideal dentitions because they take up valuable time and have “nothing wrong”. Likewise, these lucky people haven’t sought dental attention for the same reason. Again, the logic of studying the healthiest people as the key to solving disease and not the other way around has been largely absent in our profession. For most lay people the concept is simple and makes sense.

To recreate biologic beauty and function, the form of ideal natural teeth must be used for treatment. Beauty in dentistry is not just a fashionable opinion; it is an objective goal with specific functional components. In natural systems, beauty and function are not separate entities. They exist together as a seamless unit as characterized by The Model.

The Model sets a new paradigm and standard. We have an ideal, consistent, and finite goal for treatment. It serves all ages and conditions and can be used for the smallest interceptive, preventative correction and the most extreme orthognathic, surgical, restorative rehabilitation. Presently, state of the art, it will become the standard of care because it is patterned after the fittest of nature and will eventually serve as a framework to unite all dental disciplines and specialties to a common cause. This paradigm will encourage a continuing discovery process to further understand our magnificent dental system, greatly benefiting the quality of care we provide our patients.

Patients either lose their teeth through destruction of the teeth themselves, through wear or trauma that is due to disharmony with the bite and the joints, or through deterioration of the supporting structures that hold the teeth in place. The concept of Rejuvenation Dentistry embraces a goal-oriented approach of eliminating all factors contributing to destruction of either the teeth or the supporting tissues.

Other than accidents, the causative factors of accelerated deterioration of the dentition are:

1. Stress (biting stress)—this is the cause of the wear and tear on your teeth

2. Microbial Toxins (bacterial waste)

Contributing factors are those that lower the resistance of the host to causative factors. Factors influencing host resistance include:

1. Hereditary predisposition

2. General Health

3. Nutritional adequacy

4. Emotional stress

A Complete Dental Treatment Plan includes:

1. Reduction of stresses to a point that they are not destructive

2. Facilitation of a dentition that is completely cleansable

3. Education of the patient regarding responsibilities of the maintenance of the mouth

4. Evaluation of the blood chemistry of the patient to help eliminate contributing systemic factors related to dental disease.

Any dentist who restores a patient’s mouth to a healthy state and teaches the patient how to maintain that health is practicing Complete Rejuvenation Dentistry. The dental team and patient working in concert help the patient achieve and maintain the bonus side effects of comfort, optimum function, and pleasing esthetics.

Once teeth are worn down due to bite stress, the force on the teeth becomes higher due to their flat surfaces. It is like the pointed side of the meat tenderizer hammer vs. the flat side. Sharp pointed teeth do not take as much force to puncture through food. Therefore it is wise to restore the flat teeth back to their original form. The flat teeth in the back can be restored to natural anatomy and the front teeth must couple in a proper fashion to protect the back teeth. There are many reasons for choosing sharp unworn natural tooth anatomy for artificial crowns. Tooth anatomy is essential to oral physiology as form follows function. Natural teeth genetically have sharp cusps; duplicating nature is a very wise thing to do. Sharp posterior teeth are compatible with the way that natural front teeth guide the jaw to move vertically instead of horizontally as worn teeth would dictate. All of the teeth are proprioceptive and help guide the mandible (lower jaw) in final closure to “home”.  The sharp cusps on these teeth help to guide the mandible more vertically. In normal bite relationship, sharp cusps help maintain the integrity of the disc in the joint in front of your ear. These sharp cusps also help to give the lower jaw a stable relationship in the closed position to the rest of the skull. Sharp cusps produce less force on the teeth, and it is easier to eat with sharp teeth. Natural tooth forms are esthetically better than worn teeth. When the lower front teeth have the natural form, they are the knives in your mouth; they have a sharp edge for incising. The sharp teeth also diminish the load to your joints. When teeth are missing, the sharp teeth reduce the load to the remaining teeth. Teeth that have had large fillings due to decay or extensive treatment due to root canal therapy also fare better by being restored with sharp anatomy reducing the possibility of fracturing these weakened teeth. Teeth that have been compromised due to bone loss around them also respond better to sharp, vertical chewing teeth. It is easier to adjust the bite of sharp teeth in the mouth because there are small spots to adjust rather than large flat areas. Dental implants experience less stress with sharp crowns. Sharp crowns interlock better with opposing crowns and reduce chances for tooth migration. All of these factors result with less stress on the artificial crown that is better for the longevity of these crowns.

Complete Rejuvenation Dentistry accomplishes a return to the natural form and function of the teeth. This rejuvenation allows facial muscles to relax that have been helping with chewing and holding the jaw in an abnormal position due to bite disharmony. This is the reason for the change in the faces of the people that you see on this website. They have had the treatment necessary to complete this rejuvenation. This is possible at any age to complete and a very worthy investment in your health. A wise friend of mine once told me that “your eyes are the window to your soul, and your smile is the window from your soul”.

For more information about Bioesthetic Dentistry, please visit www.bioesthetics.com.