CEREC is a state of the art astonishingly effective technology that allows our dentists to create tooth restorations and dental crowns by scanning, designing, milling, staining, glazing and issuing a crown, all in a single visit!
If you have a heavily broken tooth that is weakened and want to restore it to its original shape, you’ll need a dental crown.
Traditionally this restoration process would usually require you to have at least two visits and a period of time where you have a temporary crown before getting the final crown. This temporary crown can be uncomfortable and returning twice can be inconvenient.
Luckily, there’s a new technology that will help you avoid all these troubles, known as CEREC One Day Crowns. In fact this technology started 35 years ago and over the course of time has become much more advanced.
Sydney Road Dental Care is one of the few practices that has invested in the technology and training CEREC can provide. So if you want to know more about CEREC, what it is and how it can benefit you, keep on reading!
CEREC milling machine an amazing technology in the modern dental practice
CEREC is a novel state of the art technology that is used for tooth reconstructing and restorations in dental clinics.
The word “CEREC” is short for Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramic. It was designed to streamline the crown creation and restoration process.
The astonishingly effective technology allows our dentists to create tooth restorations and dental crowns by scanning, designing, milling, staining, glazing and issuing a crown, all in a single visit!
This way you won’t have to wait the traditional two weeks between the first crown preparation visit and the second visit where the crown is placed. Which is why they’re also known as “One Day Crowns”.
The procedure of the CEREC technology uses advanced machines and a variety of computer technology to get the job done instead of the traditional way that takes much longer.
In fact, as the name suggests, the entire procedure can be completed while you’re sitting on the dental chair! This technology is a perfect solution for a lot of people for a wide variety of reasons, but more on that shortly.
CEREC comprises of the 3D scanner, milling machine and furnace. The software and training of the dentist is used to design a perfect fitting crown in one day
The procedure relies on advanced technologies, such as Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) to prepare a perfect crown for the teeth.
CEREC machines also use top-tier 3D imaging software to create a highly detailed and accurate representation of the teeth and eliminate errors and flaws.
After the computer gets all the details needed, your dentist will refine the design of the crown for you before it starts creating the crown right away by milling directly from a single ceramic block.
Once milled the crown is then polished, stained in order to match the colour of your existing teeth and finally glazed in a furnace. The new crown is then placed on your tooth by the dentist in a procedure that is completely finished on the same visit.
Now that you know more about CEREC technology and how it works, you might be wondering about what you should expect during your dental visit.
So in this section, we’ll walk you through the full procedure of having a dental crown via CEREC technology.
There are many benefits that you’ll enjoy from opting for CEREC technology when compared to the traditional way of making dental crowns. So as promised, here are some of these advantages, to name a few!
Traditional crowns and veneers are sent away to be made. Between scanning, milling and issuing a dental crown you should expect to wait for up to several weeks before you have your final crown. In the meantime you will have a temporary crown which can be uncomfortable and can become loose.
In today’s busy world fewer visits are much more convenient.
Also if you happen to have a broken tooth right before an important event like a wedding or a graduation ceremony where you have to smile and take pictures, using Cerec’s technology to get the whole ordeal out of the way surely is the wisest decision.
Our patients are always thrilled to have the new crown in one visit. On average it takes only two hours from start to finish.
What is the procedure of CEREC technology?
The first step when you first visit a dental clinic for a tooth crown is examination. The dentist will evaluate your dental health to determine whether CEREC treatment is right for you. The dentist will check on your teeth and find how much of a healthy structure you have remaining to see whether you need a simple filling or a dental crown. If you need a crown and choose CEREC’s procedure, the dentist will start the process by injecting an anesthetic so that they can prepare the tooth for restoration. The restoration process usually starts by removing any weakened tooth structure as well as decay before carrying on.
Next up, you’ll need to make a digital impression of the tooth you need to restore by scanning. This is one of the main points of difference between CEREC and traditional crowns. The built-in high-resolution camera of the CEREC machine will scan your mouth and take accurate images of the tooth, all with a push of a button and without using any materials. This is a simple and comfortable process. After that, the computer uses its 3D software to convert these images into a three-dimensional super-accurate representation of the mouth. In addition to that, the machine creates an approximate virtual model of the crown needed to be prepared while your dentist makes some modifications to the design of the crown when necessary. You’ll be able to watch all this on the computer screen with the dentist.
By this step in traditional crown creation, your dentist will tell you to wait a few weeks before your crown arrives. Meanwhile, your dentist will fit a temporary crown until the real one is finished. However, this step is completely different in CEREC. Once your dentist is finished modifying the design of the crown, the final blueprints are sent wirelessly to the milling machine for the process to start. The milling machine cuts out the shape of the crown with high-end cutting technologies using diamond burs for ultimate precision. Before it starts cutting, the dentist will also select the correct colour of the ceramic block based on the original colour of the tooth to match your teeth exactly. The milling is made from one single block of ceramic to be as accurate and durable as possible. After choosing a colour, the milling process starts and will usually take between 5 to 20 minutes to complete, depending on the complexity of the tooth design as well as its size.
When the on-site milling machine is done, the crown will be washed, polished, stained to match the colour of your teeth and then glazed in a furnace which heats up to 800 degrees celsius. It is then allowed to cool before it is bonded to your tooth. Your new crown will be strong, smooth and blend in cosmetically with the rest of your teeth. From start to finish it will take 90 minutes to 2 hours. There will be no need for a follow-up visit or for you to return in a few weeks like with traditional crowns, which saves you both time and money. It’s that simple!
Sydney Road Dental Care is one of the highest-rated cosmetic, implant, and general dentists in Sydney!