From Volume 40, Issue 4, May 2013 | Pages 297-317
For more than 40 years dentists worldwide have been using directly placed resin-bonded composite to restore damaged anterior teeth. While such techniques are invariably more conservative of tooth tissue than indirect procedures, operative techniques using direct composite can be challenging and are considered technique sensitive. Clinicians require both technical
In 1973, Dental Update published a prize-winning paper detailing a new application for resin composite in the restoration of a fractured central incisor of a ten year-old patient.1 While the procedure was considered a provisional method of long-term stabilization prior to a definitive indirect restoration, it was noted that the technique offered a number of benefits:1
Following the work of such early innovators, the last four decades have seen remarkable technological advances in the fields of aesthetic and, more recently, minimally invasive dentistry. The dental literature now even contains entire textbooks devoted to the aesthetic restoration of anterior teeth using direct composite.2,3
Operative techniques and materials with enhanced optical properties have been refined to such a highly sophisticated level that they present a first line approach,4 delivering predictable and reliable restorations5 of aesthetic and functional excellence,6 rivalling the best ceramics7 (Figure 1). The great popularity of composite resin restorations also results from their acceptable longevity at relatively low financial cost.8
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