Biological shaping and the contours of a barrel crown. The point of it is to remove over-contoured areas of teeth and eliminate furcations so that they are cleansible. This is especially beneficial after some minor bone loss has occurred. It’s much easier to show this technique than to explain it so I’ve attached pictures I have come across. Many of these examples belong to Howard M Chasolen, a prosthodontist in Florida who teaches these techniques, and the “inventor” of this procedure Danny Melker.
The first case is my own and is only done prosthetically, so is not true biological shaping in the sense that is is taught as a perio/restorative procedure.
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| Regular crown with “normal” buccal flute |
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| Reshaped to help open up area to cleanse more easily. The basic restorative idea is seen here, the surgery takes it to the next level |
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| Yes this one had a RCT |
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| Vital teeth |
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| Surgery portion |
An OPEN flap shaping of the furcation is done on these cases.
You have 3 options if furcation is involved and you desire to “treat” the situation:
- Graft the furcation closed with hard/soft tissue graft.
- Remove the furcation via biologic shaping.
- Hemi-section the tooth depending on the conditions.
Reference Yuodelis 1973 JPD
Jameson LM, Malone WFP. Crown contours and gingival response. J Prosthetic Dent 1982;47:620-624.