Biomimetic Restorations – The Science That Helps Nature

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Biomimetic literally means life like. It is an innovative method by which a dentist can restore the tooth structure lost to decay. In the conventional technique that has been in practice since last 100 years decayed tooth structure is first removed followed by grinding away the GOOD tooth structure in order to place a “strong”, stiff restorations. This leads to weakening of tooth structure even further.

Therefore, the concept of Biomimetic dentistry rotates around just one question:

“Do you want the tooth or the restoration to last a long time?”

The goal of Biomimetics in restorative dentistry is to return all of the prepared dental tissues to full function by the creation of a hard tissue bond that allows functional stresses to pass through the tooth, making the entire crown into the final functional biologic and esthetic unit. The intact tooth in its ideal hues and shades, and more importantly in its intracoronal anatomy, location and mechanics in the arch, is the guide to reconstruction that determines success (Magne, 2006).

Advantages of  Biomimetic Restorations:

• Less removal of healthy tooth structure.
• The visual look of the restoration is identical to the natural tooth structure.
• Chances of decay getting under the restoration are less as compared to a conventional crown.

Having said that, a proper understanding of the anatomy of tooth as well as bonding of the restoration is required to avoid crown fractures or de-bonding eliminating the need for re-fabrication of crown.