The New World: 1 visit Crowns

Everyone remembers the good old days when you went to the Dentist for an Onlay or Crown. An hour in the chair got you half way to the intended goal. A smelly compound was forced into your mouth to take an impression, and then a temporary was placed with a "We'll see you back in 2 weeks to cement the final Crown!" In those next few weeks, favored the other side of your mouth. You worried about being out with friends for dinner and Crack!, the temporary broke or came out, only to have to wait until the next morning to reach the Dentist and explain what happened. And hopefully it was not a Friday night dinner, because then you were out of luck until the following Monday. If all of the above didn't happen, your tooth was probably sensitive for days and had a funky smell coming from under the crown.

Cad Cam dentistry has changed all of that. With the Sirona Cerec machine, we are able to take digital impressions, make a computer generated onlay or crown, and mill and cement that final restoration all in 1 visit. There is no waiting for the lab to make the crown. No worrying about temporaries falling out. And best of all, sensitivity is reduced due to the fact that the bacteria in your mouth have much less time to contaminate the tooth. 1 hour versus 2 weeks makes a big difference with regards to your time and sensitivity.

Also, the best part of using the Cerec machine is adhering to the philosophy of Minimally Invasive Dentistry. When a tooth breaks or is in need of a restoration stronger than a filling, many Dentists will just do a full crown because it's less technique sensitive and temporaries are much easier to make. Since we don't need to make temporaries and can bond the restoration to the tooth, we can save healthy tooth structure with an Inlay or Onlay. These all porcelain restorations are extremely strong and durable, and at the same time we do not need to cut as much tooth structure with these restorations compared to a crown.