04 Dec CEREC for Dental Crowns Placed in One Visit
Dental crowns are a common and very important restoration that helps protect tooth structure from damage and decay while also restoring broken and diseased teeth to their proper size and shape. Since crowns are custom made, past technology required patients to visit their dentist at least two times for the entire process of placing a crown. Today, however, there is technology available at our practice that can create a custom crown in just one visit.
CEREC Machines Make Same-Day Crowns Possible
CEREC machines allow our team to place a customized restoration in a single office visit. Dramatically reducing the wait time for the manufacturing of a custom crown, patients can receive their restoration in one day as opposed to waiting weeks for their crown to be made in an offsite laboratory.[pullquote]CEREC machines allow our team to place a customized restoration in a single office visit.[/pullquote]
With advanced digital technology and a milling machine, CEREC can produce a crown in about an hour’s time. After our team determines that a dental crown is needed, images of the tooth requiring treatment along with adjacent teeth will be taken with an intraoral camera. This imaging is important for determining how the upper and lower teeth line up when the mouth is closed. The tooth will then be prepared for the restoration by reducing its size so that there is a stable base for bonding the crown. Once the tooth’s size has been reduced, an impression will be taken and the impression will be used to create the specifications for the crown’s size and shape with the help of a computer program. This program allows our team to make any final adjustments to the crown’s specifications and then the custom restoration will be milled chairside from the CEREC machine.
Since these same-day crowns are milled from blocks of high-quality ceramics, they provide a very discreet, tooth-colored restoration. In addition to the convenience of on-site crown fabrication, our patients do not have to sacrifice a natural appearance for a healthy smile.
To experience the benefit of our advanced technology, call the office of Dr. Philip Kozlow to schedule an appointment with our skilled dentist.