Let’s face it we all have a preference. Now don’t get the wrong idea. I am talking dental anatomy. Sorry to disappoint you all, let’s get back to work. We have this great system sitting in front of us and generally we are given super proposals right from the start. We are all different people from different regions and backgrounds. One of the greatest parts of dentistry is that we can have differing opinions of how things should look and they are all correct. How can we easily show our uniqueness in our day to day dentistry? The answer may be easier than you think.

We all get used to certain tools and learn them well. They have personalities of their own and we have grown to understand them well. Back in the day we really only had the form tool and after some time we could really use it effectively to do so much. Today we are thrilled to have so many choices. One tool that is often overlooked is "Biogeneric Variation." It allows us to quickly show off our personal likes and allows us to further customize our work. It is fast and simple to use.

It works great in the posterior and can give you quite an assortment of options for occlusal anatomy. Lately, I am finding it very useful in the anterior region. I am a big fan of surface anatomy and this tool can give you a great variety of anatomical differences so you can do less adjustments after milling. For the single anterior restoration, I like "Biogeneric Individual" as the proposals are getting better and better with each software release. Of course for larger cases, "BioCopy" still reigns supreme.

You access it from the sidebar and will find it under tools. Use the mouse to slide up and down and it will show you quite a few different anatomical features. Match the adjacent teeth as best as possible and you are done. No longer do we have to just be happy with our initial proposal or try to make adjustments with the tools. Sure we can adjust it ourselves but having the virtual model sitting there to match the anatomy well is a definite plus. Here are three examples of the same case. Look at the light reflection on the facial surface. Subtle but makes blending in with the natural dentition so much better.

Jeff, I will have to start making more use of Biogeneric Variation. I have so many patients for whom almost anything is an improvement over what they have that I have not been changing most of my proposals very much.