Six Lessons Approach Podcast by Dr. David Alleman
Learn about the evolution of biomimetic restorative dentistry with Dr. David Alleman, creator of the Six Lessons Approach. Each episode Dr. Alleman will discuss dental research, developments in adhesive dentistry and practical steps dentists can implement in their work to see more predictable results.
Learn more about Dr. David Alleman's work and teaching at allemancenter.com.
Hosted by Dr. David Alleman. Produced by Hillary Alleman and Audrey Alessi.
Episodes
42 episodes
Occlusal Effect Caries: Caries Caused by Cracks Into Dentin
Treating cracks in teeth can still feel ambiguous for many dentists. Is it better to observe? Is it better to crown? Is there a less invasive treatment option? In this episode, Dr. David Alleman discusses a key piece of research that offers pra...
Diagnosing Structural Compromise in Teeth with the 1-2-3-4 Risk Assessment
The most minimally invasive dentistry is early diagnosis and treatment. Dr. David Alleman created the 1-2-3-4 risk assessment so he could better diagnose teeth that were at risk of fracture or decay to prevent large fractures or carious lesions...
Stop Treating Cracked Teeth with Retention or Adhesion (Do This Instead)
Dentists have been attempting to treat cracked teeth for decades, with the goal of alleviating patient pain and conserving teeth through restorative treatment. But as Dr. David Alleman, DDS, describes in this episode, “it’s a coin toss of succe...
Treating Cracks in Teeth: Propagation, Visibility, C-factor and Composite Layering
Cracks put teeth at risk of infection and fracture if left untreated, but treating cracks in teeth can create many challenges for practitioners. Removing cracks without good magnification, visibility and an understanding of crack propagation pu...
Fiber Placement in Restorative Dentistry
Fiber placement in restorative dentistry: Does it stop cracks, improve bonds or just add time to your restorative process? Dr. David Alleman, DDS, dives into the history of dental fibers, including Ribbond, Everstick Net and Ever-x Posterior, t...
Biomimetic Dental Materials Part 1: Comparing Zirconia, Ceramic and Composite
What materials should you use to maximize adhesive strength, restoration longevity and tooth conservation? While how you use the materials — your techniques – are more important than the materials themselves, materials do still make a differenc...
What is Minimally Invasive Dentistry?
Biomimetic restorative dentistry has been taught and practiced for over 20 years, with its roots linked to minimally invasive dentistry that started decades earlier. Minimally invasive dentistry sought to conserve tooth structure and restore on...
What is Adhesive Dentistry?
Adhesive dentistry has been taught in dental schools for decades and is widely used by dentists today. Bonding to a tooth offers increased adaptability of restorations, allowing for more minimally invasive treatment and preparation, but long-te...
What is Cosmetic Dentistry?
Does biomimetic dentistry mean to mimic how teeth look? It can, but there is more to it than that. Dr. David Alleman discusses the evolution of cosmetic dentistry and its intersection with minimally invasive dentistry, adhesive dentistry and bi...
What is Biomimetic Dentistry?
Biomimetic dentistry can be defined by three main principles: preserve pulp vitality, conserve critical tooth structure and fully connect the tooth at 30 MPa or more. Mimicking nature (biomimetic) is about scientific analysis of how natural tee...
Evidence-Based Dentistry: Literature Review for Dentists
Evidence-based dentistry aims to bring current dental research into daily practice, but the process of adopting new findings and translating them into protocols is a complicated and time-consuming process. Dr. David Alleman discusses how dentis...
Synthesizing Research to Create Practical Dental Protocols
How does peer-reviewed literature make it into the hands of practicing dentists? Sometimes it doesn’t. Other times research can be misinterpreted and applied incorrectly. The process of analyzing and applying current research is time consuming ...
Using Chemical-Cure Dentin Bonding Systems for Endodontically Treated Teeth
Popular during the early years of adhesive dentistry, chemical-cure dentin bonding systems have since become less common with the rise of light-curing, but they still serve a purpose when restoring the pulp chambers of endodontically treated te...
Early Adhesive Dentistry: Materials and Key Opinion Leaders
As new dental materials are developed, manufacturers and key opinion leaders play a role in how widely those products are adopted. Manufacturers market new products, but key opinion leaders and teachers also influence practitioners by comparing...
Diagnosis and Treatment of Referred Dental Pain
Referred dental pain can be difficult for practitioners to diagnose without an understanding of the cause of dental pain and how teeth respond to different pathologies. Referred dental pain is caused by real symptoms that need to be treated, an...
The Histology and Dental Research of Dr. Charley Cox
Dr. Charley Cox was one of the early contributors to adhesive dental research, specifically in the field of histology. During the development of adhesive dentistry, Dr. Cox studied long-term pulp health in non-human primates, identified immune ...
The Importance of Universities in Adhesive Dental Research
Dental research developments don’t happen overnight. The key players in dental research — university faculty, dental product manufacturers and the practitioners who adopt this research — work in varying capacities with the overall goal of impro...
Dental Concepts that Shaped a New Adhesive Dentistry: Biomimetic Dentistry
With the invention of new materials for restorative dentistry, new techniques for application were needed. Research in bonding to dentin showed bond strengths that approached the cohesive strength of a tooth, but getting this research into the ...
What Causes Dental Failures?
Where do failures happen in dentistry? At the micron level. Bacteria create infections; micromovements initiate cracks; these are the root of failed restorations, infected pulps, and cracked teeth. Experiencing his own failures from traditional...
Understanding the Third Most Common Dental Pathology
Cracks are the third most common dental pathology dentists treat, but treating them in a predictable way requires an understanding of principles from engineering, histology and immunology. How do cracks in teeth form? Why do cracks in teeth cau...
The Difference Five Minutes Make: Decoupling with Time
Each lesson in the Six Lessons Approach to Biomimetic Dentistry (SLA) is essential to restoring a tooth in a way that stays bonded and symptom-free. These two failings of traditional techniques — debonded restoration and post-operative sensitiv...
Should You Remove All Stained Dentin?
Caries removal can be reproducible — this means consistent regardless of patient or practitioner. Caries detecting dye is essential to creating reproducible caries removal endpoints, but the techniques doctors pair with the dye are what prevent...
Early Diagnosis of Caries and Cracks
Early diagnosis and treatment of dental pathologies allows for more conservative treatments while saving patients time and money. When developing the Six Lessons Approach to Biomimetic Dentistry, Dr. David Alleman created a risk assessment for ...
Best Practices to Avoid and Treat Pulp Exposures
Dr. David Alleman’s landmark paper written with Dr. Pascal Magne in 2012 gave practitioners predictable steps for deep caries, and now crack, treatment without exposing the pulp. But why is preventing pulp exposures so important? Dr. Alleman di...
How Does Air Abrasion Affect a Restoration?
Air abrasion functions as a conditioning step when bonding, which means it prepares the dentin or composite molecules for bonding. Dr. David Alleman discusses the progression of bonding systems for dentin adhesion and how this conditioning step...