The article discusses trade-offs between speed and quality in dentistry. It is noted that the advent of photopolymerization in the 1980s allowed the development of composite layering techniques, yet led to increasing problems with margins. Likewise, the total-etching/total-bonding method is said to have revolutionized adhesive dentistry, but overly simplified versions of the process have led to materials that are easy to misapply, and hard to correct. The importance of using the best solution, rather than simply the fastest, is emphasized.