Modern Day Dentistry

By Sherry Kazerooni, DDS, LVIF

The days of wearing a temporary crown and waiting two weeks for the lab are over. With CEREC, the CAD/CAM computer and milling unit, your dentist is able to provide metal free crowns, inlays and onlays in one single visit. Just think about it – one less appointment for numbing.

Life is busier than we want it to be these days. Luckily, the days of having to reserve several appointments to take care of one dental concern with many limitations that accompany transitional dental procedures are coming to an end.

CEREC uses CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing) technology, incorporating a camera, computer and milling machine in one instrument. The dentist uses a special camera to take an accurate picture of the damaged tooth. This optical impression is transferred and displayed on a color computer screen, where the dentist uses CAD technology to design the restoration. Then CAM takes over and automatically creates the restoration while the patient waits. Finally, the dentist bonds the new restoration to the surface of the tooth. The whole process takes about one hour.

From subtle changes to major repairs, your dentist is able to perform a variety of procedures to improve your smile. There are many techniques and options to treat teeth that are discolored, chipped, misshapen or missing. Your dentist can reshape your teeth, close spaces, restore worn or short teeth or alter the length of your teeth. Most common procedures include bleaching, bonding, crowns, veneers and reshaping and contouring.

Inlays and onlays are similar to tooth fillings, as they are restorative treatments used to repair small tooth fractures, tooth decay and other sorts of damaged surfaces of the teeth. In some cases, a resin-based composite filling is not used when restoring your molars due to durability of the inlay/onlay. An inlay is similar to a filling and lies within the center of a tooth and when the damaged tooth requires inclusion of one or several points of the tooth or even full coverage of the biting surface, an onlay is done. The benefits of inlays and onlays are that they are not likely to discolor over time as tooth-colored resin fillings have a tendency to. Dental inlays are better at sealing teeth to keep out bacteria and are therefore preferred when the cavity is between the teeth as they are extremely stable and durable.

This conservative approach in patient care allows your dentist to not risk compromising any healthy tooth structure and by maintaining higher standard and integrity, your permanent restoration can be bonded with seamless visibility. Contact your Cerec Certified dental provider and inquire about high quality, painless, same day dentistry today.