Hall Technique

The Hall Technique (“Hall Crown”) is a minimally invasive restorative option for primary teeth that have decay and/or hypomineralization that necessitates a stainless steel crown (SSC). The procedure is done without numbing (no shots!), tooth preparation (no drilling!), or sedation (no general anesthesia!). This technique is an evidence based procedure with clinical efficacy equivalent to the conventional surgical approach of SSC placement.

Cavities need to be exposed to sugar to continue to grow and get bigger. When a crown is placed, it completely covers the tooth and starves the cavities from sugars. The decay doesn’t need to be completely removed with a drill for this to work. The Hall Technique originated in Scotland in the 1990’s where Dr. Norna Hall accidentally discovered that when she sealed her pediatric patient’s decay within a glass ionomer cement under a stainless steel crown without cutting out any of the cavity, the cavity could not continue to grow. The procedure is well tolerated by most pediatric patients and is a great alternative to the more invasive surgical approach.