New Technology - CEREC

A patient undergoing dental restoration with cosmetic treatment usually needs several visits to their dentist.

On the first visit the teeth are prepared for the procedures and the dentist takes a custom impression of the patient’s teeth from which veneers, crowns, or dentures are to be created. Between appointments the patient has to wear a temporary crown while the final restoration is fabricated by the laboratory. On the second visit the dentist places the restoration in the patient’s mouth and adjusts it to feel natural.

While this does not sound problematic, it can often require a patient to live for weeks with an ill-fitting "standard" temporary which affects everything from eating to speaking. It also involves traveling back and forth to the dentist’s office which can easily translate to a great deal of time in travel and even missed work. Additionally, the skill of the laboratory technician can have an effect upon the final results, which might include poorly fitting crowns that allow for debris to enter between teeth or between the crown and the gum.

Luckily, CEREC technology, a computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing machine that creates custom dental restorations, makes the manufacturing of all-ceramic dental restorations possible in a single visit.

In the past, dentists have had a limited number of materials from which they could craft restorative items. Usually they were made from gold, amalgam and composite materials that could withstand the wear and tear of daily use. The CEREC uses highly durable ceramic materials that deliver the look of all natural teeth to craft inlays, onlays, crowns and veneers. This means a patient can come in for treatment and have no need to return in order to complete their single tooth restoration.

CEREC technology records the anatomical features of the tooth and surrounding areas, then the dentist completes the custom design by using images of their patient’s teeth and gums in conjunction with the software. The machinery fabricates a custom restoration which is an exact replica of that designed in the software by the dentist. This means that a patient getting a crown will not have to wear the temporary for a week or more before returning for their permanent crown. They will not suffer the discomfort and possible bacterial buildup, but instead they will wait a few minutes comfortably in their dentist’s office as their crown is made.

CEREC technology is not available at every dentist’s practice, and patients may need to visit a new dentist to enjoy the benefits of such innovation.