CEREC (Same Day Crowns)
Treatment of CEREC Crowns
CEREC stands for Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics. This innovative technology allows dentists to craft high-quality crowns and other restorations right in their office, in about an hour or less. That means no messy impression material and long waiting periods.
The procedure for fabricating a CEREC crown is very straightforward. The first step is to prepare the damaged tooth by filing away any decay or removing parts that are no longer viable. Then the dentist takes an optical impression of the prepared tooth using a camera and a reflective powder. Those images are then uploaded to a computer that creates a 3D model of the crown.
Once the model is ready, it is given to the milling machine for final processing. The dentist selects the ceramic material that will be used for the restoration, and then the machine crafts the new crown to exact specifications. Once complete, the crown will fit comfortably on the patient’s tooth without requiring any cement or adhesives. The entire process takes about one hour in most cases.
CEREC crowns, or same-day dental crowns, allow patients to have a new crown placed by the same appointment that is prepared for their procedure. This means that the patient will not need a temporary restoration while their new, permanent restoration is fabricated in a lab and sent back to the dental office.
When placing a traditional dental crown, the tooth is prepared by removing a portion of the enamel to allow the crown to be placed over it. A temporary restoration is then placed on the tooth until a permanent one is created in a dental lab. This process typically takes two to three weeks to complete.
With same-day CEREC technology, there is no need for the patient to wear a temporary restoration while their permanent one is fabricated. Instead, digital impressions are taken of the prepared teeth, which are then used to design a crown that is made right in the office on our in-office milling machine. Once the new restoration is finished, it is bonded to the tooth. No additional visits are necessary to attach the restoration to the tooth. The biggest benefit of choosing CEREC crowns is the ability to avoid messy, lengthy procedures that require multiple visits to the dentist’s office. CEREC crowns are milled from a single block of porcelain using CAD/CAM technology. The dentist will take an impression of your tooth and send it to the CEREC machine.