"Richard Clark" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 02:17:36 -0700, "Ed Price"
wrote:

Richard, you gotta pay closer attention to what the doc is doing inside
your
mouth!

Caps have a ceramic layer atop a metal (titanium?) mandrel. And even more
fun is that there's a rather large and long stainless steel post that was
drilled down to nearly the end of the root of that tooth.

Hi Ed,

I know the dentistry business quite intimately. I help a buddy out
with new dentistry technologies. What you describe are rather old
techniques. My dentist built up a cap in the office on an NC machine
in 15 minutes to replace one that had been built without any coloring
(it was as white as chalk). I've only had one root canal after the
dentist got tired of waiting for years to fix the abscess (never
bothered me as much as it did him). Even then, the cap required no
post, he filled the excavation in much the same way as any prepped
cavity and capped it off.

No metal involved, much to the loss of another buddy who has a
patented technique in gold based construction. All the work I am
aware of is now done by casts. By the way, the profit margin is HUGE
for the dentist. He easily pays only $100 for the cap from the
laboratory. I can only hazard a guess to what you pay the dentist
(me, about $600).

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC


Well, I'm an old guy! I grew up being conditioned to having carries drilled
and filled. (Never did the orthodontia route though.) I then graduated to
the next life-phase, wher the carries became multi-surfaced. That morphed
into putting on caps. And then the cap jobs moved onto crown jobs. Now I've
got myself my first bridge; hey, I finally own a bridge!

Yeah, crowns are about $600 in Southern California too. Been a while since I
bought one, but I did know about the mark-up. Unfortunately, do-it-yourself
dentistry is quite difficult. I find it interesting that many local dentists
are still one-man shops, while individual practitioner physicians are almost
extinct. I had talked with my dentist about advanced lab techniques like you
described; but she got a misty look in her eyes as she described the
financial aspects.

Anyway, as it is now, I've got enough metal bits in my mouth that I could
probably qualify as a diplexer on some band.

Ed
wb6wsn
"You will feel a slight pressure."
"Is it safe yet?"