Dr Patrick Calalang is a general dentist who runs a largly educational page.

He’s a go to for seeing the diagnosis and treatment of cracks, as well as videos that are helpful explainers of the complexity of modern day bonding theories (the dreaded phrase, Biomimetic dentistry).

The photography is always perfect. With annotations, he steps through the management of cracked molars; in particular, the placement of composite according to stress reducing philosophy with the aim of preserving as much tooth structure as possible.

Dr Calalang created a series of videos where he uses everyday situations to explain theories around cracking and bonding and these can be found in his ‘highlights’ section. I have found them a useful aid when explaining the cracking of teeth and bonding with team members.

There’s a quiet movement gaining traction regarding the transition of the prepartion of, and bonding to, teeth.

This revolution is fueled by general dentists who are passionate about their craft and sharing their information with others.

Dr Calalang talks about his journey in dentistry; I think he is in his fifites? He shows us that we are never to old to learn and apply new skills in the best interests of our patients and our profession.

It takes courage to share photographs of your work and expose yoursef up to critique. Without dentists such as Patrick we would be worse off.

He also does magic tricks.

A term I learned from Dr Calalang was the phrase occlusal effect caries. A term coined by Dr David Alleman.

It might be that I had been living under a dental rock but I had not previously seen an explanation for what I would see when prepping a tooth and discovering the decalcification of the enamel on interproximal portion of a prep.

Just in case you don’t follow LinkedIn, Dr Kia Pajouhesh has been posting a series of cases that have been seen at his practice in recent times for rework/second opinions.

He talks about the “the dark underbelly of our emerging cosemetic dental industry”, a term I wish I had thought up.

Case Study 5 - Greed vs Enamel

It’s interesting reading and although we as dentists can see the issues, it’s important to remember our patients often only find out the down sides when its too late.

As always, have a great week

Rosie

A final photo from Mt Hotham