Biomimetic Dentistry means the dentist, while restoring the diseased tooth, attempts to mimic the biological makeup of the natural tooth. We restore infected teeth while preserving as much natural tooth structure as possible.

As Science has advanced in developing ultra sensitive testing machines, we have learned that even the crown, that part of the tooth we see when we smile, has a flex to it when we chew. Finely tuned instruments can tell us how much flex enamel and dentin have, and can compare this data to restorative materials that have been developed through the years.

With the advent of the wonderful adhesives that dentists now have at their disposal, we are able to bond composit and porcelain restorations to those parts of the tooth that have become diseased. We can do this in a conservative manner, thus preserving more of the natural tooth structure. It turns out that feldspathic porcelain flexes similar to enamel, (the outer shell of the crown), and composit materials flex similar to dentin, (the structure underneath the enamel). In restoring damaged teeth, Biomimetic Dentists choose the proper material and adhesive that most closely matches that part of the tooth we are restoring.

A decade ago, Dr. Carlston was the second dentist in Los Angeles to purchase a feldspathic porcelain milling machine called Cerac ll. Through the years Dr. Carlston has upgraded to newer versions of this incredible robotic milling machine until to today it has become Cerac 3D, a CAD-CAM robotic machine that takes a block of porcelain and creates a customized restoration to exactly fit the preparation Dr. Carlston creates in the tooth to repair the damaged part. The tooth is shaped in such a way as to preserve healthy tooth structure. An electronic picture is taken of the tooth and the inlay, onlay, or crown is designed on a computer screen with the CAD-CAM software, then sent wirelessly to the milling machine which exactly duplicates the design. The restoration is then bonded to the healthy tooth structure with the modern adhesive materials that hold the tooth together and restore its function as close as possible to the original tooth.

World renouned researcher, and professor, Dr. Pascal Magne, DMD, PhD wrote in the February, 2006 CDA Journal: “The well-known CEREC system (Sirona, Charlotte, N.C.) is undoubtedly the most practical and integrated system. It represents a concrete contribution of new technologies to the dental profession and it probably reflects the future of restorative dentistry.”