Chasing the Red Lizard

Preserving tooth vitality with selective caries removal

Many decisions today are made based on emotion instead of a rational, analytical, and critical mind. It is no question that social media drives much of this unconstrained emotion. After all, users typically scroll quickly with a very limited attention span, and the ‘reply’ or ‘share’ buttons are within closer reach than a well-developed, tempered thought. This is generally true not just for politics, pop culture, and virtually any conceivable topic, but also for dentistry.

It is also true that many treatment decisions are based on antiquated philosophies, lack of advanced training, or even to cater to third-party payers AKA “dental insurance.” I posted a case photo of tooth number 4.6 (30) on Instagram seeking input on how dentists would approach it, and the responses were not surprising.

The post read as follows:

“Your mid-life patient calls and says their amalgam filling came out. This is the crime scene. The tooth is vital. What’s your game plan?”