Dental crowns are one of the most versatile dental treatments, repairing everything from a cracked or chipped tooth to cosmetic treatments that enhance your smile.
CEREC (Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics) is the first system to offer same-day dental crowns of the same high standard as traditional crowns.
Using computer-aided manufacturing and computer-aided design, the technology combines 3-D imaging software with a milling machine located in our dental clinic. This allows our dentists to design, measure and produce custom crowns and restorations on the same day, often during a single dental appointment.
Process of Getting a Same-Day Crown
After an initial consultation, one of our dentists will determine whether crowns are right for you.
- Impression Scan: Instead of using traditional impression material and a tray that usually gets inserted into your mouth (to take an impression of upper + lower jaw), CEREC uses a camera scanner. This provides our dentists with precise 3-D images of your teeth
- Dental Crown Design: the CEREC software will analyze the scan of your mouth, and in conjunction with the dentist, will generate the restoration proposal. This only takes a few minutes, making it much faster than sending the impressions to a laboratory
- Dental Crown Production: The software will then submit your crown design to the CEREC milling machine, which will cut the unique crown designed by your dentist
- Procedure: Your dentist will glaze & sinter your crown, and place it on top of the tooth
Note: inlays or on-lays may be used if a crown is not necessary.
Benefits of Same-Day Dental Crowns
- Minimally invasive: instead of using a mould for impressions which triggers the gag reflex and is uncomfortable for patients, the slim camera wand will be used to take detailed pictures inside your mouth
- Less time at the dentist: We understand that our patients have busy lives. Our CAD/CAM software allows our dentists to design your new tooth crown on the spot, and craft it immediately using the milling machine
- No temporary crown: In the past, patients had to wear a temporary tooth crown while we sent impressions to an off-site lab, which was often uncomfortable
- Long-lasting: a CEREC crown can last up to 15 years with proper care and maintenance