Periodontal and dental health

Abstract

It seems obvious that dentists must approach the problem of full coverage with extreme caution, reserving that type of restoration for situations in which nothing else will serve the purpose. A return to the use of pinledge and three-quarter veneer crowns seems to be indicated to preserve the integrity of the periodontal tissues, to reduce the risk to pulps, and to increase averages of success in restorative dental procedures and mouth rehabilitation. Proper operative and prosthetic dental service is such an integral and inseparable part of periodontal health that dentists cannot provide one without the other. An effort has been made to present a concept of periodontal health and its relation to total oral health. There cannot be a healthy mouth with a diseased periodontium. It is basic that the periodontal tissues must be treated first to prepare a healthy foundation for the operative and prosthetic treatment to follow. Heroic attempts to retain teeth which are periodontally diseased to a stage where they should be extracted must be avoided. Such teeth should not be incorporated in splinted fixed partial dentures. Splinting a hopelessly loose tooth will not tighten it; it will jeopardize the healthy teeth to which it has been splinted. The indiscriminate use of full crown coverage should be discouraged. Experience with full coverage has taught that a return to the use of pinledge and three-quarter veneer crowns is indicated.