Melissa Seibert, DMD, MS, ABGD

Melissa Seibert DMD, MS, ABGD is a comprehensive dentist and creator and host of the top dental podcast, Dental Digest. She holds a faculty appointment at Uniformed Services University and Creighton Dental School. She serves on the editorial advisory board for Inside Dentistry. She has authored numerous publications and lectures to national and international audiences. She was recently awarded Incisal Edge Magazine's Top 40 Under 40

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Views and content presented by Dr. Seibert not reflective or endorsed by D.o.D. or USAF

Dr. Seibert obtained her B.S. and comission at an officer in the United States Air Force at the United States Air Force Academy. She obtained her dental degree from the University of Louisville. She completed a CODA accredited one-year AEGD at Barksdale Air Force Base. After practicing for a few years she went on to obtain training as a comprehensive dentist in the Air Force's two-years AEGD where she completed her Master's. She is board certified by the American Board of General Dentistry - a qualification obtained by less than 0.1% of dentists.

Articles & Publications

Implant treatment planning is rarely perfectly straightforward. For example, it would be uncommon for a clinician to treatment plan a partially edentulous space at the site of tooth No. 30 that was unaffected by a hard- or soft-tissue defect or a super-erupted opposing tooth. Oftentimes, clinicians have to consider the use of hard- and/or soft-tissue grafting procedures, limited or comprehensive orthodontics, treatment to manage a marginal ridge discrepancy, etc, during the treatment planning process. This can make treatment planning complex, particularly if multiple practitioners are involved. The three pillars of successful implant treatment planning are precision, communication, and case acceptance.

Comprehensive treatment planning should be approached from a global perspective. When treatment planning an esthetic case, the position of the gingiva and, more specifically, the gingival zeniths should be considered. Depending on whether the gingival zenith is incisally or apically positioned, orthodontics or crown lengthening can be used to manipulate it as well as soft-tissue grafting and other periodontal surgical techniques, including those employed during implant placement. This article examines the ideal positions and relationships between the gingival zeniths of maxillary teeth in the esthetic zone, considerations for achieving ideal esthetics, ways in which the gingival zeniths of teeth can be altered during development and through treatment, and the importance of evaluating for ankylosis if orthodontics is being considered to extrude a tooth as a part of an interdisciplinary treatment strategy.

Internal bleaching is a highly sought-after treatment and a great service to provide to patients. External bleaching differs from internal bleaching in the sense that external bleaching addresses superficial staining, while internal bleaching manages internal discoloration. External bleaching is generally applied to the entire dentition, but internal bleaching may only target one or a few teeth.

With zirconia resin-bonded fixed partial dentures, case selection and occlusal analysis are critical for success. The ideal occlusal scheme for this type of prosthesis is one in which the patient has a shallow overbite and the tooth selected for the retainer, or "wing," is not mobile. In this case, the patient's occlusal scheme was also evaluated to ensure that he would not be guiding off of the pontic (Figure 2). It was determined that this patient was an excellent candidate for this prosthesis because of his shallow overbite and the lack of guidance that would be associated with the pontic when it became tooth No. 10.

Silver diamine fluoride (SDF), known for its demonstrated ability to arrest caries, is available as a liquid or a gel. Although the solution is commonly utilized on primary teeth in the pediatric population, it is perhaps underutilized for the permanent dentition of adult patients who may benefit from its use. SDF is classically used to arrest caries in young children, uncooperative children, or children who are too medically compromised to undergo restorative dentistry. However, SDF can also be used to prevent pit and fissure caries, desensitize teeth, arrest root caries, arrest caries in underserved populations, or arrest rampant caries in situations in which the teeth cannot immediately be restored.1 One systematic review reported that SDF was 89% more effective at controlling/arresting caries than a placebo.2

It should be noted that although this solution is commonly called "silver diamine fluoride," that is a misnomer. The compound does not contain an amine group (-NH2) but rather an ammine group (NH3); therefore, it would more accurately be referred to as "silver diammine fluoride."3 However, "silver diamine fluoride" is the term that is conventionally accepted throughout the dental literature.

Adhesive dentistry offers dentists the opportunity to practice more conservatively. Many of the preparation guidelines for indirect restorations were formulated during the era of aqueous-based luting agents. However, with adhesive dentistry, preparations for indirect restorations do not require the same mechanically retentive features that they once did. Minimally invasive preparation designs facilitate the preservation of natural tooth structure, which can attenuate or halt the death cycle of restored teeth, allowing patients to retain them longer into their lives. Success with adhesive dentistry requires a thorough understanding of the chemistry of the various types of adhesives and the substrates being bonded to. This article examines the patient benefits of minimally invasive preparation and discusses the categorization of adhesive systems by generation and etching mode, the clinical efficacy of adhesives, nonretentive restorations and preparations, bonding to dentin, and techniques to improve success in adhesive dentistry, including achieving proper isolation, ensuring that all caries-affected dentin is removed during preparation, and using loupes for magnification.

Dental trauma oftentimes results in esthetic complications that can be difficult for restorative dentists to manage, such as intrinsic discoloration. Several treatment modalities for managing intrinsic discoloration secondary to dental trauma exist today. This article examines the ways that teeth become discolored as a result of trauma and explores suitable approaches to management, including the placement of indirect restorations, such as full-coverage crowns and ceramic veneers; the use of internal bleaching techniques, such as the walking bleach technique and the inside-outside bleach technique; and the placement of direct composite veneers, either with or without an opaquer. For teeth that demonstrate darker discoloration, internal bleaching can be combined with indirect or direct restoration to reduce the amount of preparation required and achieve patients’ other esthetic goals. Restorative considerations for each of these approaches as well as their advantages and disadvantages are presented.