CAD/CAM 3D chair-side milling CEREC System

LOL. That title reads like an eye-chart with all those acronyms - so let's start at the very beginning.

This blog post is a part of our 7 Wonders of Modern Dentistry S eries.

CAD/CAM stands for Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing and CEREC stands for Chairside Economical Restoration of Aesthetic Ceramics.

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😅 I suspect that the long-form names create more confusion that it resolves. At its simplest, it means that our office is equipped with the CEREC system, so that we can design and create restorations like dental crowns (not to be confused with the crowns royalty wear) - all in-house, all on the same day.

You may need a dental crown if:

* a tooth becomes heavily decayed

* a significant part of the tooth has broken off

* there's a deep crack in the tooth

* a large existing filling keeps coming out

* a tooth is root-canal treated, and placing a post and core crown would really help protect the tooth

* etc.

If you're of a certain age and have been with us for a while, you may remember a time when, if you needed a crown, we'd need to:

* book you in for impression

* prepare the tooth and send off data to the laboratory

* fashion you a temporary tooth

* then book you in for a fitting/cementation appointment about one week later

* If the impression got distorted along the way, we'd ask to see you again to retake impression

* If it didn't fit after getting it back from the lab, then we'd send it back to them to redo and book you in again

* If the temp came off, you'd also be booked back again

At the very least, you'd be booked in for 2 appointments and there'd be a waiting period as we work with the labs. The beauty of having CAD/CAM CEREC technology is that we're able to:

* digitally scan your unique anatomy

* design a tooth that'll fit in not only with the ones right beside it, but also the tooth it connects with, when you bite

* mill it and place it into your mouth

This is all within the span of 1.5-2 hours and allows us to skip the middle man.

The Benefits

* We're able to maintain that ALFIE standard of excellence throughout the entire process (because we've got our all-star team working on it from start to finish)

* You can avoid biting down on gunky impression material

* You can avoid dealing with the temp(s)

* The digitization of this process means better precision and better fit

* You don't have to come back for multiple appointments for the same crown

Have questions about dental crowns? Call our office now at (416) 226-6688.

Here's a quick preview of our CEREC system.