There is something therapeutic about a wood chipper, you put your hearing protection on, put you eye protection on, the ground shakes as you feed the beast-you are isolated from the world.  It doesn’t care what you throw down its throat; it rips it to shreds whether it is a bunch of leaves, twigs, or branches. You see what needs to be done and it is easy to gauge your progress.

When I was in my isolation zone recently using the chipper, I started thinking about something dental related, as sad as that seems. We are constantly barraged with information about the various materials we use in the office. It is amazing how many SEM pictures manufacturers include in their advertisements and their PDF’s. Of course, we take things for granted that they know what is best for us. But I don’t know about you but I don’t live in a SEM world. I believe in magnification but if my loupes don’t see it, does it really exist? I have questioned my margins @ 4.5 magnification, no way I want to see them at a higher magnification.

So something caught my eye that made me think about what happens in my office everyday. There was a mass of yard junk 10 ft squared and 3 ft tall. A mass of branches, leaves and twigs. All different sizes, all intertwined, so if you pull one piece the pile shifted. It was an irregular framework, connected one side of the pile to the other. Pull on something on one side of the pile, the whole pile moved.

 As time went on I started to notice that the large pile of junk was being converted to a smaller pile of junk. Same material that has just been converted- condensed. The density increased by 10 fold. Throw a rock in the middle of the pile and just where it lands is disturbed, it didn’t disturb the whole pile

This started me thinking how we could apply this to our practices.

The differences between the hybrid materials became very clear. Things that the manufacturers try to demonstrate with SEM pictures became real world. The hybrid material with the ceramic framework was similar to the initial pile, a framework of branches of various sizes with interstitial spaces filled in. Touch a spot and the penetration affected the adjoining areas. A constant barrage of insults could have a negative effect on the whole mass. The final pile was more like Lava Ultimate and its nano technology. There were very little interstitial spaces, the volume was all the filler. It was a dense mass. Touch a spot and the mass did not shift. The trauma of the penetration stayed at the point of the insult, the adjoining areas where unaffected.

I either want a material that is hard as a diamond for my restoration in my mouth, so I can crush anything without worry. If I have a material that is advertised as being flexible or forgiving I don’t want it to be forgiving over an area. I want it to be forgiving in only the spot of insult.

The last thing I need when shucking a few dozen cherrystones is doubt that there is a bit of sand somewhere in a clam.

Note: No pets, teenagers or spouses were harmed in the production of this blog