Maximising success, minimising failure

Content
The ultimate goal of dental care is achieving health, function and aesthetics (the HFA triad), ensuring clinical gratification and patient satisfaction. It is impossible to consider aesthetics in isolation to function and health, both of which are perquisite to maximising success. The chronological treatment sequence is attaining health, followed by function and lastly aesthetics. Placing superlative restorations in an unhealthy and non-functional environment is not only an exercise in futility, but doomed to failure. This discussion focuses on factors which compromise the HFA triad, and how to foresee, avoid, and overcome these obstacles for optimising the final result. The salient points for maximising success, while minimising failure are as follows: 1.Patient influences (hereditary, medical and dental history, psychological, dental phobias, dental awareness, endurance for protracted treatment sessions, expectations and fiscal constraints); 2.Biological factors (soft and hard tissues); 3.Operator factors (temperament, academic knowledge, competence or manual dexterity and degree of clinical self-deprecation); 4.Using appropriate dental hardware (equipment); 5.Choosing the most suitable dental materials based on scientific critique, rather than commercial or peer pressure; 6.Sound clinical procedures; 7.Employing skilled ceramists for fabricating indirect restorations, which are functional and aesthetically integrate with healthy tissues. Using a variety of dental modalities, the lecture highlights how to exploit prevalent clinical scenarios, and methods for mitigating negative elements in the provision of aesthetic dental care.