Bioesthetic Dentistry

“Bioesthetics is the study or theory of the beauty of living things in their natural forms and functions.”  Robert L. Lee, DDS

Dr. Dickerson has had a special interest in the area of adult restorative dentistry throughout her career. Also, she has a long history of corrective dental care herself, and has had many different forms of treatment spanning several decades. She has a passion for learning about how the chewing system really works, and how to help her clients achieve the ultimate in the esthetics, comfort, function, and longevity. Because of her personal health journey, she has firsthand knowledge of the challenges, fears and hopes that people with complex dental problems can have.

That is why she was so excited to discover "Bioesthetics". This word was first used by Dr. Robert Lee in the 1970's when he was studying the mouths of older people who had no evidence of breakdown or deterioration in any component of their chewing systems (that includes the teeth, gums, supporting bone, jaw joint, as well as the muscles, nerves and blood vessels that run the system). He sought to find the common features of these most successful natural dental systems, and to apply his findings to his restorative cases. He discovered that in mouths that stayed healthy for a lifetime, there were always three biomechanical principles at work. These "bioesthetic principles" represented the reason why some people's mouths stood up to the test of time, and others did not.

Moreover, he found that when he restored a broken down mouth in a way that put these principles into place, the mouth became self-protective!

There are many symptoms that can be indicative of progressive deterioration of the chewing system.  Some of them are:

• Wear on the teeth
• Cracked, broken, or chipped teeth
• Habitual grinding or clenching of the teeth
• Jaw clicking, popping, grating, or jaw joint tenderness
• Sore/tender jaw muscles
• Chronic headaches
• Recession of the gum tissue and bone around the teeth

In the past, these signs were often dismissed as normal signs of aging. Dr. Lee's research proved that this is not true.