In today’s increasingly competitive market place it is important to find efficient and effective means for streamlining the real bread and butter of your practice – namely, direct restorative dentistry. While many people have some level of knowledge regarding glass ionomers, very few are aware of the advances that have been made since this category first came on the market over 30 years ago. The versatility, vastly improved esthetics, and ease of use over the earliest generations have made this a reemerging and rapidly growing area of dentistry. In fact, some recent studies have shown that properly placed posterior glass ionomer restorations may actually offer a superior clinical life span to direct composites.

Upon completion of this CE Activity, the student will be able to: understand the difference between restoring anterior and posterior teeth with direct composites and glass ionomer materials; identify the advantages and disadvantages of each material type as well as when is it preferable to use one or the other clinically; better understand the clinical scope of using glass ionomers for direct restorations in posterior teeth via clinical case presentation using Equia technique as an example.   ( disclaimer , AGD PACE Statement )