Conventional dental crowns are prepared and placed in an extended process that will require multiple appointments with a dentist. Patients who choose standard dental crowns will have to wait for a few weeks to get their permanent crowns, which are created by an off-site dental lab and returned to the dentist to be placed on the patient’s tooth. The patient can wear a temporary crown in the interim, but these devices tend to be unreliable and unsightly.
CEREC, which stands for chairside economical restoration of esthetic ceramics, condenses the treatment timeline for dental crowns into a single appointment. Our holistic dentist gathers all of the information needed for the design of the crown, and the data is entered into a specialized computer software system that produces the specs for the crown’s design. Those specs are then relayed to the in-office milling unit, which creates the crown from a block of ceramic material.
After the crown is ready, the patient can request further adjustments in terms of shade or shape. When the patient is satisfied with the crown’s design and appearance, the dentist can place it on the patient’s tooth, bonding it to the tooth using a strong dental cement. The whole process is completed in a matter of hours, and the patient leaves the office with a permanent crown.
It is also worth noting that the ceramic materials used to make the crown look similar to biological tooth enamel and can be tailored to blend in with the shade of the patient’s other teeth. People who are looking at your smile will not even realize that you’ve had a crown placed unless you tell them!
If the idea of waiting for a few weeks to get a dental crown placed sounds like a drag, explore CEREC as a viable alternative. Call our office to learn more about this treatment, or schedule an evaluation to learn if it might be right for you.
