Biomimetic Dentistry Colorado Springs
The Ideal Approach to Dentistry
Biomimetic Dentistry is a superior form of dentistry that provides better long-term oral health than traditional dental techniques. Only dentists who have completed advanced biomimetic training are qualified to perform these unique and improved procedures. Dr. Jared Waite is one of only a few dentists in Colorado Springs to bring this valuable service to you!
What Is Biomimetic Dentistry?
Biomimetic Dentistry is a very tooth-conservative approach to fixing damaged teeth. Biomimetics is a scientifically proven technique that focuses on the correct bonding and sealing of broken or decayed teeth in a way that copies nature. This means that more of your natural teeth are preserved during every dental procedure at Aspen Ridge Dental Care.
Because your teeth cannot regenerate themselves like other tissues in your body, it is vital to your overall dental health to keep as much natural tooth structure as possible. Biomimetics accomplishes that goal. By practicing biomimetic dentistry, Dr. Waite makes a restoration that fits your healthy tooth and provides proper form and function. He doesn’t cut away excessive healthy tooth structure to fit a restoration that will eventually leak and cause sensitivity and pain.
Traditional white fillings. The brown color around the fillings is leakage, or spots where bacteria can seep into your tooth.
Same tooth with the filling and the brown stain removed. The back areas on the inside of the tooth are cavities. The patient was complaining of sensitivity prior to biomimetic treatment.
Molar with leaking silver filling. The patient complained of sensitivity, pain, and the tooth being broken.
Same molar with filling removed. The pink stain shows the cavities that formed under the filling, explaining why the patient was experiencing such bad sensitivity.
Same molar, now biomimetically restored. This molar is now structurally sealed, allowing the tooth to look, feel, and function like other natural teeth. This also eliminates sensitivity.
Traditional crown preparation on a lower right molar. For a traditional crown, a dentist must amputate even healthy dental structure, leaving only a nub, in order to fit a full crown. Over a ten-year period, more than 30% of teeth prepared in this manner will fail, resulting in the need for root canals.
Biomimetic preparation on a lower right molar. Only the structurally compromised and decayed parts of the tooth are cut away in a biomimetically restored tooth. Notice the amount of tooth structure that’s left intact. This provides for a longer lifespan of the natural tooth and more than a 90% chance of never needing a root canal.
Traditional crown failure and extracted tooth. This catastrophic failure was caused because the natural tooth below this crown could not withstand the forces of chewing. This caused the tooth to crack, resulting in a lost crown and extracted tooth.
Biomimetic failure and small broken piece. This premolar had been biomimetically restored. After several years, a small portion of the biomimetic restoration broke off. The tooth was neither sensitive or painful due to the sealing nature of the technique. It could be easily repaired.
Watch a Biomimetic procedure and see for yourself how we "mimic nature".
Biomimetic Smile Gallery
Do All Dentists Provide Biomimetic Dentistry?
Dr. Waite is one of only a few dentists in Colorado Springs who can perform biomimetic procedures. This technique requires extensive training and continuing education, which Dr. Waite has invested the time to complete. It also requires the use of extremely high-magnification telescope lenses to produce long-lasting results. Because it is so specialized and time-intensive, not many dentists have received the training needed to provide this conservative technique.
An integral part of successful biomimetic restoration is the combination of the right materials with the right technique to properly bond broken and decayed teeth. Dr. Waite utilizes the most sophisticated resin and ceramic materials to reconstruct layers in your tooth similar to what nature created. This also eliminates the need for multiple visits to the dentist in order to treat one tooth. All biomimetic dentistry is completed in one office visit; you will never need a temporary filling or crown.
The Benefits of Biomimetic Dentistry
These are many of the reasons Dr. Waite implemented biomimetic dentistry at Aspen Ridge Dental Care. As always, your dental health is of the utmost importance to Dr. Waite. He truly cares about your long-term oral health. Biomimetic dentistry is very conservative, which means you have stronger, longer-lasting teeth throughout your lifetime, truly helping you achieve your best smile. Some of its most important benefits are:
- Seamlessly Lifelike Results: Aesthetically, when your tooth is restored biomimetically, Dr. Waite can add depth of color, shine, and shape not otherwise possible with conventional restorations. This creates a better look and feel for your restored tooth, allowing it to better match the existing teeth surrounding it.
- Natural & Reliable Functionality: The functionality of a biomimetically restored tooth offers significant benefits versus traditional restorations. Biomimetics differs most significantly in function. This is because when your tooth is restored biomimetically it flexes in a similar manner as your natural dentin (the part of your tooth that creates the needed shock absorption during use). Hard crowns and traditional fillings do not offer this flexibility. This leads to breaks and cracks in your natural teeth beneath the crown or filling and translates to further damage and more costly dental repairs—things avoided by biomimetics.
- Save Time & Money: Biomimetic restorations have been proven to be more cost-effective than traditional restorations because they require less expensive repairs over the life of the restoration. This saves you extra visits to the dentist and dental specialists.
- Little to No Dental Sensitivity: You will notice a significant difference in the lack of pain and sensitivity of your biomimetically repaired teeth versus your teeth restored with conventional crowns and fillings. This is due largely to the fact that biomimetics focuses on only removing the damaged or structurally compromised parts of a tooth and then delicately rebuilding it using correct bonding procedures, sealing out any bacteria that create an infection.
- Long-Lasting Results: The science behind biomimetics proves its high long-term success rate. More than 90 percent of biomimetically-repaired teeth will never need a root canal or traditional crown. Moreover, because you maintain more of your natural tooth structure in biomimetics, your tooth remains healthier for longer.
Biomimetic Dentistry FAQs
Do Biomimetic Treatments Take More Time?
In the long-term biomimetic procedures have proven to be more time efficient. This is because everything is performed in one visit, eliminating the need for the second visit common with traditional crowns. This is also due to the conservative nature of the technique, which eliminates 90 percent of root canals and other time-consuming procedures that stem from the breakdown of conventional dental restorations.
However, the initial repair of your tooth is more time-intensive than a traditional “crown preparation” or standard “pot-hole” filling. This is because Dr. Waite takes the time to delicately reconstruct your tooth layer by layer using the most advanced techniques and adhesive materials that result in longer-lasting restorations. This creates stronger teeth that are less prone to breaking or cracking and will need less work down the road, saving you time and money.
Does Biomimetic Dentistry Cause Tooth Sensitivity?
Biomimetic dentistry significantly reduces, and in most cases eliminates, sensitivity commonly associated with traditional crowns and fillings. By being conservative and not removing vital tooth structure, we significantly decrease your tooth’s sensitivity. Properly sealing the remaining tooth structure during the rebuilding process also contributes to the considerable drop in sensitivity associated with biomimetic restorations. In fact, many of our patients report having no sensitivity at all, postoperatively.
Are Biomimetic Restorations Noticeable?
Based on reports from Dr. Waite’s current patients, the biggest difference you will notice between traditional treatments and our procedures is the lack of significant postoperative sensitivity with biomimetic restorations. Most of our patients at Aspen Ridge Dental Care report only one day of sensitivity versus the sensitivity they experienced for several weeks and even months following a traditional restoration. Another difference you will notice is the look and feel of your restored tooth. Our patients say their biomimetic dentistry feels identical to their own natural teeth and matches their teeth in shape, contour, and function.
Aren’t All Fillings the Same?
No. Amalgam, commonly known as a silver filling, has been used for years. These fillings have no adhesive properties and simply fill the space inside of your tooth. They do not support your surrounding tooth structure, and over extended periods of time, they can swell and eventually crack and break the teeth. These fillings also contain mercury, a toxic substance. Many patients are unhappy with the unaesthetic appearance of these restorations.
White composite fillings are more aesthetic and provide some adhesion properties to strengthen teeth, but with time, these fillings expand and contract differently than the tooth structure and eventually leak and develop cavities beneath them.
Biomimetic fillings are very aesthetic restorations. These fillings provide a long-lasting bond to teeth that does not break down with time. This helps to support your remaining good tooth structure and seal out bacteria that can cause recurrent cavities. Since these restorations are sealed, the postoperative sensitivity is minimal to nonexistent. These fillings are reinforced with special materials that make them as strong as the missing tooth structure they replace.
What If I Have Old White or Silver Fillings?
Dr. Waite is of the strong belief that early diagnosis and treatment results in better long-term health as well as less costly procedures and less discomfort down the road. That is why he suggests that if your old fillings start showing any signs of leakage or compromise, you get them replaced using biomimetic methods immediately.
Will My Dental Insurance Cover Biomimetic Treatments?
Biomimetic procedures are billed in a similar manner as traditional dentistry. Because dental insurance companies do not have specific billing codes for biomimetic dentistry, we submit your claims based on traditional codes for the types of materials used as well as surfaces repaired during the restoration. This means that most biomimetic restorations are billed the same way as a white (ceramic) crown or filling.
Is Biomimetic Dentistry More Expensive Than Regular Dentistry?
No. In fact, over the long term, it is far less expensive. No dental restoration lasts forever. When a traditional restoration fails, both the restoration and the tooth are compromised, leading to costly tooth repair or replacement procedures. On the other hand, biomimetic restorations are easily repaired upon failure and are built so that the restoration fails, not the tooth. Most require little or no anesthetic to repair. The minor cost associated with repairing a biomimetic restoration is more like that of a filling rather than that of a conventional crown, root canal, bridge, or implant.
Why Should I Choose Biomimetic Dentistry?
As a dentist, Dr. Waite feels strongly that you should have the best possible options to treat your mouth. Biomimetic dentistry is the only treatment he seeks for himself and performs for his family and friends, and the treatment he has incorporated into his practice, Aspen Ridge Dental Care. Simply put, we believe it is better dentistry: better for your overall oral health, and better for each tooth.
Dr. Waite has taken hundreds of hours of continuing education in several areas of dentistry. By far, the most beneficial and far-reaching impact of all these CE courses has been that of biomimetic dentistry. Dr. Waite has performed traditional dentistry for more than eight years. Through this experience and studies, he has realized that traditional dentistry has several drawbacks that biomimetic dentistry resolves. He is very excited to offer this amazing dentistry to all of his patients at Aspen Ridge Dental Care.
In an ideal world, the best dentistry would be no need for dentistry. But since each of us experiences some tooth problems sooner or later, the next best thing is to copy nature and repair your tooth the way nature would repair it: rebuilding it one layer at a time, cusp by cusp, removing only the compromised areas and providing correct and strong bonding techniques that provide the most natural result and seal out future infection. For these reasons, Dr. Waite believes Biomimetic Dentistry is the best dentistry for you!