Dr. Charley Cox was one of the early contributors to adhesive dental research, specifically in the field of histology. During the development of adhesive dentistry, Dr. Cox studied long-term pulp health in non-human primates, identified immune responses that confirmed Martin Brannstrom’s hydrodynamic theory of pain and connected internationally with adhesive dental researchers like Takao Fusayama, Stefan Paul and Sema Belli. 

Dr. Cox’s dental research contributions are to this day still largely unincorporated into adhesive dental applications. In creating his Six Lessons Approach to Biomimetic Restorative Dentistry, Dr. David Alleman found Dr. Cox’s research to be instrumental in answering questions about preserving pulp health and preventing reinfection. 

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September 14: Biomimetic Mastership starts
September 25-26: SLA Workshop (optional DME/Isolation intensive)
October 7-10: In-Person Biomimetic Mastership
December 4-5: SLA Workshop (optional DME/Isolation intensive)

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Referred dental pain can be difficult for practitioners to diagnose without an understanding of the cause of dental pain and how teeth respond to different pathologies. Referred dental pain is caused by real symptoms that need to be treated, and in this episode Dr. David Alleman discusses types of referred dental pain, tips for diagnosing cracks under restorations and procedures for eliminating post-operative sensitivity through biomimetic restorative dentistry.

Article referenced in this episode:

Brannstrom M. The hydrodynamic theory of dentinal pain: sensation in preparations, caries, and the dentinal crack syndrome. Journal of Endodontics. 1986;12(10):453-457

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October 7-10: In-Person Biomimetic Mastership
December 4-5: SLA Workshop (optional DME/Isolation intensive)

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As new dental materials are developed, manufacturers and key opinion leaders play a role in how widely those products are adopted. Manufacturers market new products, but key opinion leaders and teachers also influence practitioners by comparing the benefits of various materials and lending their expertise.

In this episode Dr. David Alleman discusses his early introduction to adhesive materials, how his role models and mentors led him to a growing network of key opinion leaders in the dental materials community and his own experience of growing from a young dentist to a teacher and key opinion leader in the field of biomimetic restorative dentistry.

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September 25-26: SLA Workshop (optional DME/Isolation intensive)
October 7-10: In-Person Biomimetic Mastership
December 4-5: SLA Workshop (optional DME/Isolation intensive)

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Popular during the early years of adhesive dentistry, chemical-cure dentin bonding systems have since become less common with the rise of light-curing, but they still serve a purpose when restoring the pulp chambers of endodontically treated teeth. In this episode Dr. David Alleman discusses the polymerization dynamics of chemical-cure and light-cure adhesives and how that impacts their effectiveness in different aspects of a successful adhesive restoration.

Article referenced in this episode:

• Toshifumi Kuroe, Kana Tachibana, Yukinori Tanino, Noriyuki Satoh, Noboru Ohata, Hidehiko Sano, Nobuo Inoue, Angelo A Caputo, Contraction stress of composite resin build-up procedures for pulpless molars. J Adhes Dent. 2003 Spring;5(1):71-7.
• S Deliperi, D Alleman, D Rudo. Stress-reduced Direct Composites for the Restoration of Structurally Compromised Teeth: Fiber Design According to the "Wallpapering". Oper Dent. 2017 May/Jun;42(3):233-243. doi: 10.2341/15-289-T. Technique

At 12:35 Dr. Alleman creates illustrations to demonstrate air inhibition. To view this video, watch the episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/Y1xHishKlOo or search for Six Lessons Approach Podcast.

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October 7-10: In-Person Biomimetic Mastership
December 4-5: SLA Workshop (optional DME/Isolation intensive)

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How does peer-reviewed literature make it into the hands of practicing dentists? Sometimes it doesn’t. Other times research can be misinterpreted and applied incorrectly. The process of analyzing and applying current research is time consuming for practitioners to the point where new dental findings often fail to be widely adopted in practice.

Reminiscing on his first meetings with researchers John Purk and Jack Ferracane, Dr. David Alleman discusses how synthesizing research into practical protocols requires a deep understanding of how research is conducted and a treatment-focused view of how different protocols interact with others. Without this perspective, research may be applied incorrectly, but with productive conversations and large-scale clinical examples, his Six Lessons Approach protocols show how using current literature to benefit patient outcomes is possible.

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October 7-10: In-Person Biomimetic Mastership
December 4-5: SLA Workshop (optional DME/Isolation intensive)

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Evidence-based dentistry aims to bring current dental research into daily practice, but the process of adopting new findings and translating them into protocols is a complicated and time-consuming process. Dr. David Alleman discusses how dentists should approach literature and what to keep in mind when considering adopting findings into their own practice. 

From his own experience of wading through the sea of dental research, Dr. David Alleman created the Biomimetic Mastership, a comprehensive program that trains doctors in evidence-based dentistry while teaching them how to study and understand dental literature for themselves. Most practitioners do not have time to devote the thousands of hours he spent during his literature review of advanced adhesive principles, so the Biomimetic Mastership distills this science and puts it in the hands of practitioners.

Article referenced in this episode

• Y Shono, T Ogawa, M Terashita, R M Carvalho, E L Pashley, D H Pashley. Regional measurement of resin-dentin bonding as an array. J Dent Res. 1999 Feb;78(2):699-705.
• M  Nakajima, K Hosaka, M Yamauti, R Foxton, J Tagami. Bonding durability of a self-etching primer system to normal and caries-affected dentin under hydrostatic pulpal pressure in vitro. Am J Dent. 2006 Jun;19(3):147-50.
• R Kishikawa,, A Koiwa, H Chikawa, E Cho, N Inai, J Tagami. Effect of cavity form on adhesion to cavity floor. Am J Dent. 2005 Dec;18(6):311-4.

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December 4-5: SLA Workshop (optional DME/Isolation intensive)

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Biomimetic dentistry can be defined by three main principles: preserve pulp vitality, conserve critical tooth structure and fully connect the tooth at 30 MPa or more. Mimicking nature (biomimetic) is about scientific analysis of how natural teeth function and replicating those principles during the restorative process. This isn’t art; this is science. 

In this episode Dr. David Alleman discusses the research behind understanding how a natural tooth functions and how practitioners can replicate that to improve clinical outcomes with biomimetic restorative dentistry.

Article referenced in this episode

• Wang RZ, Weiner S. Stain-structure relations in human teeth using Moire fringes. J of Biomechanics. 1998;31:135-141.
• Alleman D, Magne P, A systematic approach to deep caries removal endpoints PSZ. Quintessence Intl. 2012;43(3):197-208.

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December 4-5: SLA Workshop (optional DME/Isolation intensive)

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Does biomimetic dentistry mean to mimic how teeth look? It can, but there is more to it than that. Dr. David Alleman discusses the evolution of cosmetic dentistry and its intersection with minimally invasive dentistry, adhesive dentistry and biomimetic dentistry. During his own research and teaching of biomimetic dentistry, Dr. Alleman met and taught a number of cosmetic dentists, including Joe Willardson, a longtime colleague, teaching partner and friend whose life and work is remembered after news of his passing in January 2025. Our thoughts and sympathies are with his family and friends.

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December 4-5: SLA Workshop (optional DME/Isolation intensive)

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Adhesive dentistry has been taught in dental schools for decades and is widely used by dentists today. Bonding to a tooth offers increased adaptability of restorations, allowing for more minimally invasive treatment and preparation, but long-term success with adhesive dentistry is not a guarantee.

Dr. David Alleman repeatedly saw failing composite restorations and realized that in order to improve restorative outcomes, posterior teeth needed more advanced protocols than anterior teeth. Subjected to higher forces of occlusion and with deeper restored defects, understanding polymerization dynamics is essential to a long-lasting adhesive posterior restoration. His research of these principles served as the basis for him developing his Six Lessons Approach to Biomimetic Restorative Dentistry.

Article referenced in this episode

• Gibbs CH,  Mahan  PE,  Mauderli  A,  Lundeen  HC,  Walsh  EK. Limits of human bite strength. J Prosthet Dent 1986;56-226-229
• Larson TD, Douglas WH, Geistfeld RE. Effect of prepared cavities on the strength of teeth. Oper Dent. 1981(6)2-5. 
• Nikaido T. Evaluation of thermal cycling and mechanical loading on bond strength of self-etching primer system to dentin. Dent. Mater. 2002;18 269-275.

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October 7-10: In-Person Biomimetic Mastership
December 4-5: SLA Workshop (optional DME/Isolation intensive)

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Biomimetic restorative dentistry has been taught and practiced for over 20 years, with its roots linked to minimally invasive dentistry that started decades earlier. Minimally invasive dentistry sought to conserve tooth structure and restore only parts of the tooth affected by pathologies. 

With the invention of adhesive materials, adhesive dentistry showed promise in advancing minimally invasive principles with new materials that no longer required retention, but the adhesive restorations still fell short. Teeth are more complex than many other materials that are adhesively connected, so simply bonding the restoration to the tooth did not yield long-term success.

In this episode Dr. David Alleman discusses how minimally invasive dentistry paved the way for the more conservative approaches we use today, how biomimetic dentistry made adhesives more predictable, allowing for longer-lasting bonds, and where cosmetic dentistry fits in to the adhesive dentistry spectrum.

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Upcoming dates:

September 14: Biomimetic Mastership starts
September 25-26: SLA Workshop (optional DME/Isolation intensive)
October 7-10: In-Person Biomimetic Mastership
December 4-5: SLA Workshop (optional DME/Isolation intensive)

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