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Foreword

For several years one question has systematically arisen during the professional training courses and conferences that I have held and organized : « When will your next book be ready ? »

In order to satisfy these dental enthusiasts, I have decided to write this third book following a long maturation period. I have prefered not to write another book on ceramic stratification, but in contrast, a very useful book with easy access to the knowledge for the largest number of dental professionals.

This is why throughout the pages, dental prosthetic technicians and even dentists will find that, while the methods, ideas, and skills do not have definitive references, they do possess logical reasoning and adaptation to whatever material is used. You will not only find tricks and hints but also my entire philosophy for checking the shade, bond, saturation, luminosity, and translucency without forgetting the way absorption is achieved, as well as reflections on your reconstructions.

I have grouped as many smart methods as possible in this work, 72 in total, which are used in my laboratory to optimize effectiveness in daily jobs. We are aiming to achieve very high quality work, while being as fruitful as possible. The constraints on work carried out in the laboratory quickly force us to rationalize our production stages. Some smart methods or tricks and hints as I call them, such as those using the 2-tone color pencil, are simple but undoubtedly effective. For more than fifteen years I have been able to demonstrate this during the great many professional training courses I have given. It is through these courses that I have been able to see the success of the know-how that I introduced. I have been able to build up my information through the years, develop my methods, and rationalize the logic behind my work.

Moreover, I would like this book to be a big thank you to all the professionals who have attended my courses as they have inspired me through their presence and their work. Today I still see that they take part to my passion, with great enthusiasm, in order to make continuous progress and improve communication. What is more, most of the tricks and hints that I present are very personal but some have been given to me, as the starting point of my study, by participants in my training courses. 

To facilitate approaching the tricks and hints, I have provided an evaluation of their degree of difficulty : using one, two, three or four teeth to indicate the degree of difficulty experienced using the method. The texts are deliberately short, and I would like this book to be easy to use so that the tricks and hints can be implemented quickly. The diagrams and photographs are included to facilitate and highlight the logic behind the “Tricks and Hints”.