Here’s the tooth with most of the cavity cleaned out. It was REALLY big! And again, no symptoms with hot, cold, or bite. The ONLY way to have found this was with a dental x-ray.

Now that the reasons for the crowns has been explained, let’s check out the results. Both teeth were restored with porcelain crowns. Instead of the ‘regular’ porcelain crown, these were different. Most crowns still have a small metal band around their base. This helps the lab technician when he or she is making the crown or some dentists request this metal band because they feel the crown fits better. The only problem is that when recession of the gums happens slowly over time, the metal band will become more obvious. Here’s a better solution. The margin area (where the crown and tooth meet) can be made with ALL porcelain. This looks better longer and has a fantastic fit. Only problem is it costs a little more, but I sure think it’s worth it. Take a look….what do you think??

So let’s look at this situation a little closer. You can see where the crown meets the tooth because there has been some recession of the gum tissue over the many years this crown has been in service. Also, this same area is starting to ‘leak’, that is, bacteria is migrating under the crown and infecting the tooth underneath. The tooth in front of the crown has a large cavity. In fact it’s big enough that you can see the gray ’shadow’ of the decay if you look closely. It was definitely time to fix these teeth.

Here’s a better view of this same tooth.  Again, it was an easy, inexpensive procedure that takes a pretty smile and makes it fantastic!

Many of us use software that is considered ‘freeware’, that is, free to download from the internet and use. Now PC World has compiled the ‘20 Best’ of this category. Check it out here and see if you can use any!

Here’s a great review of some security programs that can be used to keep your PC safe. They’re not only free, but many of them use less memory than the suites that you and I have to buy, and work better! Read here.

Here’s a list of the 100 best blogs, according to PC World. And no….sadly my blog did not make the list. Maybe next year!

Blog

I talked about an article a little while back, here, that discussed the fade resistance of prints. Well now here’s another interesting twist. These folks reviewed the quality of a print using the manufacturer’s ink vs. third party ink (like Cartridge World). Really a pretty interesting comparison…click here.

The bottom line? The third party inks did BETTER than the manufacturer’s own ink for overall picture quality! Think about that the next time you have to run out for more ink for your printer!

I’ll admit this right up front….I’ve only ‘tried’ Vista on a few different computers, so I can’t so too much good or bad about it…yet. I DO know that many dental software companies don’t support Vista and are recommending that we continue using Windows XP. Here’s an interesting review of Vista from a ‘regular’ computer user. After reading it I may continue with XP for a while longer!

Vista Review

We call 411 a handful of times throughout the month for assistance….and I’m amazed at the cost to do it! Well, along comes Google to the rescue. Check out this article about Google’s new 411 service: Google 411

You know we’ll be trying it!!