Dr. Eduardo Mahn

Conservative Esthetic and Implant Dentistry.

Insights that will definitely help you dealing with composite
The idea of this lecture started many years ago, as I realized the lack of knowledge and skills I had after finishing dental school. Over the years I was lucky enough to get in contact with people that taught me how to learn from others and overthink certain aspects of dentistry. I have to thank my mentors for that.

Thereby, over time I collected insights that I shared whenever I could, in courses, lectures and articles. With the feedback of the participants we were able to develop and improve certain concepts. Over time, these concepts matured and we were able to project them into clinical cases that were documented. For example, the correct use of opalescence materials, basic anterior tooth anatomy, and the use of the line angles or mesio and disto labial ridges. How to achieve texture and the right opacity of restorations, how to layer composites properly, but at the same time in a reasonable manner; not time consuming. I saw articles describing cases where 10, 12 or more shades were used! Was it really necessary??? Well...honestly, I think it was not! Another example, was how to choose the proper shade of the composite. Over time we realized how and why it isn't as important as we thought. Which is the best composite or which is easier to use? Can we save time when curing? How large can the increments be? Very simple questions like, bevelling...yes or not? If the answer is yes, then when and how? The use of wedges in the anterior region... is it better or not? In this manner ...we could keep discussing aspects that for most of us are not clear or were unclear for a long time.

In addition to these aspects, in the posterior region we also face a paradigm shift with bulk fill composites. Which are their real advantages and can we overcome the bulk fill disadvantages?