New technology at Bell Family Dentistry: Cerec one Day Crowns

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one day crown digital camera Cerec Digital Camera

Not all dental technologies are advances or improvements

Having been around for over 37 years we have seen technology make huge changes in the practice of dentistry. We have been lucky to practice during the bonding revolution that has allowed us to take dentistry to a new level. That being said numerous technologies and materials have come and gone. We have been cautious adopters of new techniques and technologies and still we have a closet of expensive  “great ideas” that weren’t so great.

Digital Dentistry: A new proven technology

Digital impressions and CAD/CAM crowns are a technologies that we have been following and evaluating for over 10 years.  I was skeptical of the process at first especially after seeing some of the first crowns being produced but the process has now been perfected and has  reached our threshold for adoption: It produces results better or as good as previous technologies and is more convenient and comfortable for our patients. The concept is simple but technique sensitive: Use a digital image instead of an impression with goop and then produce a crown by precisely milling a porcelain crown with a CAD/CAM machine. Instead of sending an impression to a dental laboratory and scheduling a second appointment to seat the crown, the crown can be produced in our office and seated the same day. For us it allows us to completely control the process from start to finish and as control freaks that is a good thing as laboratories can have a difficulties meeting our demanding requirements for fit, shape and color. More importantly for you the patient you do not have to have a temporary crown or have a return visit that often requires a injection to get numb to seat the crown made by the laboratory. Unfortunately not all crowns or teeth can be done in a single visit with digital impressions and cad/cam. We will enlist the help of dental laboratories and use what ever techniques will produce the best result for our patients but we are excited to have the option to offer our patients

Cerec CAD/CAM Specialized Dental CAD/CAM

A  Special One day crown for a special day

poorly fitting porcelain crown Fake looking ugly porcelain crown

old porcelain crown with decay Close up of the ugly crown showing the decay long the edge

This is the first anterior (front) crown we made using the system. We were not anticipating doing the crown that day but the patient announced she was going to her son’s wedding in two days so could we make the temporary “look better”. We make good temporaries but she is one of our favorites so we decided to use our new system to get a better result. We figured if it wasn’t perfect we could always use it as a “good” temporary. We replaced her “old” porcelain/metal crown(note the dark line) with a new CAD/CAM crown. She was ecstatic and we were pleased with the results.

New porcelain crown One day crown and a perfect match of the tooth next to it.

So if you need a crown and want it done the same day let us know and we will see if we can make that possible.  Again not all cases are best done using this technique.