Dental treatments are seeing new advances every day. Technology is providing improved tools that allow your dentist to offer more effective treatments as well as see less waits for specialty treatments such as dental crowns. One of the best advances to dental care is CEREC crowns. These modern dental crowns allow dentists to offer same day crowns on-site so you do not have to wait for your damaged tooth to be replaced or restored.
Traditional Crown Treatments
Traditional crowns call for a much longer process often requiring as many as three appointments. Appointments require a consultation, impressions of your tooth, tooth preparation and final insert of your finished dental crowns. Crowns are usually made off site at a dental lab which often involves several days wait. This means once your tooth is prepped for your crown you will have to wear a temporary crown until your crowns are completed. This is not only inconvenient, but embarrassing if you run into issues with your temporary crowns.
CEREC Crowns
CEREC crowns provide an entirely different experience. CEREC uses CAD-CAM technology to produce dental crowns at a single appointment. The CEREC 3D system consists of an acquisition unit, 3D software and a milling unit. The acquisition unit is a computer as well as a camera that is used to take a picture of your prepared tooth. It then creates a 3D model of your tooth providing your dentist with a design they use to make the restorative crown. The milling unit is the equipment used to create the porcelain dental crown perfectly matched to your natural tooth color. The image on the computer acts as the guide to build your new tooth.
Your CEREC Crown Appointment
The process involved for a CEREC crown involves a few simple steps:
• Preparation and Exam: Your dentist will examine your teeth and then prepare your tooth by removing decay and shaping it to accommodate your crown.
• Impression: Unlike the traditional method in which you must bite into a messy tray to take impressions, the CEREC method takes an easy and painless optical impression using a camera.
• Crown Creation: The CEREC unit than creates the crown using the milling unit.
• Insertion: Your dentist colour matches your crown, checks for fit, makes necessary adjustments and then cements your crown in place.
CEREC dental crowns are easy, affordable, painless and convenient allowing you to complete your restoration in one easy appointment.
