There’s a way of thinking about dentistry that most patients take with them to every appointment without ever really noticing it. Something is wrong. The dentist fixes it. The patient leaves. This is repair: find the fault and fix it, then be done. It’s not a bad model, but it’s incomplete as a description of what a good dentist is doing. A better model is restoration. And that makes all the difference.
Restoration is a concept well understood in some parts of the world. The idea is to understand how an object or an area should look when restored to a previous state. This can be a lost original or a previous restoration that needs to be maintained. The job of the restorer is to ensure that everything left in place looks like it should, in order to return the whole area to a state of coherence and harmony.
Repair, by contrast, is a much more limited task. When a historic structure is damaged, it’s often repaired first and then restored. Restoration is much more complete and goes well beyond the immediate need to fix what’s broken. But a good dentist doesn’t just work on fixing the immediate problem. They need to work on restoring the mouth to its previous level of function, which includes making it as functional and durable as possible for years to come. For Dentist Bournemouth, visit https://gentledentistry.co.uk
That’s where the difference between repair and restoration is important. In repair, the emphasis is on fixing what’s broken in order to get the patient back out the door. In restoration, the emphasis is on making sure that whatever is left in place is in its proper relationship with the rest of the mouth, so that the patient will be able to use the restored tooth and the other teeth for years to come.