CEREC CAD/CAM Technology

When you are in need of a filling or dental crown, you often have to make more than one visit to the dental office for the entire procedure to be completed.

Your first visit may require a shot of anesthetic, tooth preparation, an impression, and the placement of a temporary filling or crown. At the second appointment, you'll receive another injection of anesthetic, the temporary restoration will be removed, and the permanent restoration will be placed.

With the CEREC system, our doctors complete all of your care in just one visit — start to finish!

First the doctor will examine your tooth and determine the treatment that is necessary. You may just need a filling or a crown may be required if there is not a sufficient quantity of strong, healthy tooth structure left to contain a filling and endure the force of chewing.

The doctor will then administer a shot of anesthetic and prepare your tooth for restoration by removing decay and weakened tooth tissue just the way a regular procedure is performed.

But next, rather than taking an impression with gooey impression material in a tray that you bite down on, the doctor will take an optical impression of your prepared tooth by coating the tooth with a safe, tasteless powder. A camera is used to take a digital picture of your tooth. The entire process takes only a minute or two!

The doctor is now ready to use the CEREC machine to create the restoration for your tooth. CEREC 3-D software takes the digital picture and converts it into a three-dimensional model on the computer screen. Combining the CEREC 3-D software program and their own dental expertise, our experienced doctors design your restoration.

Within a few minutes, your doctor clicks a button and the restoration design data that has been created is sent to a separate milling machine (a machine which cuts the restoration material to very precise standards) right in our office. A block of ceramic material matching your tooth shade is placed into this machine. In approximately 10 to 20 minutes, your all-ceramic, tooth-colored restoration is ready to be bonded into place.

The ceramic fillings and crowns produced by the CEREC system are completely natural-looking to blend perfectly with the tooth that is being restored and all the teeth around it. CEREC restorations are also of exceptional strength and areespecially appropriate for use in the back teeth which bear the force of grinding the food.

With the advent of bonding, porcelain veneers, and a variety of cosmetic dental procedures, the placement of unaesthetic metal restorations is no longer necessary. Because it is able to produce any single-tooth restoration, CEREC shines in this area also, allowing our doctors to repair chipped or discolored front teeth with highly aesthetic ceramic crowns or veneers.

The CEREC system has been proven in use for nearly 20 years, producing over 6 million strong and beautiful dental restorations.

Ask our doctors or any member of our team about how CEREC single-visit restorative care can strengthen and beautify your smile in just one appointment!