Glossary
Glossary
Framework terms defined in plain English.
Keep Your Teeth Framework
The Keep Your Teeth Framework is a way to make better dental decisions by looking at Structure, Force, Time, and Stability together.
It helps explain when a tooth can be watched, when treatment makes sense, and when waiting may make the next step harder.
Structure
Structure means how much healthy tooth is still left.
A tooth with thick walls and a small filling usually has more reserve than a tooth with a very large old filling.
Force
Force means the pressure placed on your teeth by chewing, grinding, clenching, and jaw movement.
A molar with a large filling may be fine under light chewing but less stable under heavy grinding.
Time
Time means how teeth, fillings, crowns, cracks, bone, and bite pressure change over years.
A tooth can feel fine today but still be moving toward a harder decision later.
Stability
Stability means how likely a tooth or dental treatment is to hold up over time.
A filling, crown, bridge, implant, or root canal should be judged by how it may perform over the next 5 to 10 years.
Long-Term Tooth Stability
Long-term tooth stability means the tooth has a realistic path to stay useful, comfortable, and maintainable over years.
This is why a dentist may look beyond today's symptoms before recommending treatment.
Threshold
A threshold is the point where the risk of waiting becomes greater than the cost of acting.
Below threshold, monitoring may be smart. At threshold, treatment may preserve the tooth.
Dental Threshold
A dental threshold is the decision point where Structure, Force, Time, and Stability begin to align.
It helps answer questions like when to get a crown, when to monitor, or when a tooth may need a bigger plan.
Convergence
Convergence means several signs are pointing toward the same decision.
A large filling, heavy bite pressure, a growing crack, and poor stability together create a clearer threshold than any one sign alone.
Reserve
Reserve means the strength and future option value still left in a tooth.
A small filling usually uses less reserve than a crown, but a crown may protect reserve when the tooth is already weak.
Preservation
Preservation means protecting as much healthy tooth, bone, bite function, and future option value as possible.
Sometimes preservation means watching. Sometimes it means treating at the right time.
Irreversible Treatment
Irreversible treatment is dental treatment that permanently changes the tooth or mouth.
A crown, root canal, extraction, bridge, or implant can be necessary, but each should have a clear reason.
Escalation
Escalation means a dental problem has moved into a more complex treatment category.
A small filling can become a large filling, then a crown, then a root canal and crown if the tooth keeps losing reserve.
Monitoring
Monitoring means actively watching a tooth with a clear plan.
Good monitoring tracks what is changing, when to recheck, and what would make treatment necessary.
Bruxism
Bruxism means grinding or clenching your teeth, often during sleep.
It can increase bite pressure and make cracks, large fillings, crowns, and implants harder to maintain.
Marginal Ridge
A marginal ridge is the raised side edge of a back tooth that helps hold the tooth together.
When a large filling removes both marginal ridges, the tooth may become weaker even if it does not hurt.
Vertical Root Fracture
A vertical root fracture is a crack that runs down the root of a tooth.
This kind of crack is difficult to repair predictably because it can affect the tooth below the gumline.
Non-Restorable
Non-restorable means a tooth does not have enough healthy structure or support to be rebuilt predictably.
A crown needs a stable foundation, and sometimes that foundation is no longer there.