If you’re a candidate for dental crowns, chances are you’re familiar with the long wait times. However high-quality the prosthetics turn out to be, the one- to two-week period between ordering and receiving them can be a drag. But what if we told you there’s no longer a need to wear temporary crowns or dental veneers, let alone wait around for that second appointment?
Enter CEREC technology: the step forward in dentistry that gets you your customised crowns, inlays, onlays, or veneers in a single appointment — without taking any shortcuts. Sound too good to be true? Let’s break down every aspect of CEREC technology to assure you that it isn’t!
What Is CEREC?
CEREC — or Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramic — is a fast-tracked, digital method of creating restorative dental solutions in-house. Once the CEREC machine has a digital impression of the patient’s mouth, it designs the prosthetic using computer-aided design (CAD) and brings it to life with computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Ultimately, CEREC is a four-step process allowing for patient convenience and satisfaction. Here’s a closer look at how it’s done.
Step 1: Scanning the Area
Before we do anything, we ensure to administer anaesthesia so that you won’t feel a thing. Once you’re positively numb, we capture a digital impression of your mouth using our specialised digital scanner. With CEREC technology, you can bid farewell to gag-inducing dental putty that often sits uncomfortably in the mouth. Our scanner can catch every nook, cranny, and groove of your unique dental arrangement.
Step 2: Preparing the Tooth
Crowns and veneers don’t just slot into place — we need to prepare teeth for their arrival. Our next step is to alter your tooth so that the prosthetic can seamlessly fit onto it. Once we’ve made the required adjustments, we’ll take a final post-operative scan, which will ultimately inform how we design and manufacture the prosthetic.
Step 3: Over to the Robots!
Through the magic of specialised software, your digital oral impressions convert into three-dimensional computer models! Your dentist can also adjust the design to account for contours it may have missed, exact bite alignment, and any aesthetic requests.
Once the dentist and machine have worked hand-in-hand to finalise the design, it’s over to the robots — or the milling machine, as the case may be. This machine uses high-precision diamond burs to carve the crown from a ceramic block, condensing 16 to 20 hours’ worth of manual labour into just 20 minutes of automation.
Step 4: Polishing & Placing
Fast forward 20 minutes and we’re holding your crown — or veneer, or inlay or onlay — in our hot little hands. Before we bond the prosthetic to your tooth, we give it a polish and make any final adjustments required. You’re now ready to walk out of your appointment with a shiny new tooth and zero requirement for a follow-up appointment! What would have been a one- to two-week process has been condensed into an appointment spanning no longer than two hours.
Is It Really That Simple?
CEREC really is as simple as it sounds! It’s a trusted technology that delivers long-term results, and significant compilations of anecdotal evidence and research back it up. Unlike man-made crowns, CEREC-generated crowns feature neither dark edges nor translucency, making them a surprisingly close match to natural teeth. And because they’re made from ceramic, you can count on them to endure.
Interested in CEREC?
If you’re keen to dodge the one- to two-week waiting period and skip over the temporary crowns or veneers, CEREC may be the solution for you! Whether you want to restore and strengthen with crowns, perfect and beautify with veneers, or cover cavities seamlessly with white fillings, CEREC can generate the prosthetics you need.
There’s so much more to dentistry than just the biannual checkup and clean. Book your appointment at Stanley St. Dental to discover a world of restorative and cosmetic solutions — be it CEREC or dental bridges! We can’t wait to help you bridge the dental gap and sink your teeth into our suite of selections.