Single Visit Crowns

Dentistry is always changing and evolving with new technologies, new techniques and new materials. East Texas dentists at Allen Family Dentistry believe in keeping up with the latest and greatest technologies that allow us to help restore our patient’s teeth to the highest level of care. One of the most fascinating technologies we have brought to our patients is CEREC CAD/CAM dentistry that allows us to fabricate an all-ceramic crown in a single visit.

CAD/CAM Dentistry first came into existence in the early 1980’s with the first CEREC system. In the early days the crowns that were fabricated were made with softer materials, they didn’t fit as well as a lab-made crown and they took an in-ordinate amount of time to fabricate. As the years have passed technology and materials have advanced and we are now able to manufacture same-day crowns with stronger materials that fit incredibly accurately.

We first brought CEREC into our practice in 2009. As the world continues to become more technologically advanced, the future of dentistry is also going into the digital world. The CEREC system allows us to take a digital impression with a camera instead of using traditional goopy impressions. Patients love avoiding the goop!

Once we have a digital impression the doctor uses computer software to design the crown. This design is then sent to a milling machine which mills the crown out of a block of porcelain. The crown is then glazed in a porcelain oven and after cooling is ready to cement in the mouth all in a single appointment! One of the biggest advantages to patients is no temporary crowns and no second visit to seat the permanent crown.

 

CEREC technologies continue to advance. Today we can combine a digital impression of the patients mouth with a 3-D cone beam x-ray image to digitally pre-plan implant placement. The milling machine can mill a surgical guide template that allows us to place the implant right where we planned it on the computer. In addition, dental materials continue to advance, and we can now fabricate several different kinds of crowns including implant crowns and bridges.

We hope by investing in new technologies our patients gain access to first-class care right here in East Texas. CEREC allows us to fabricate beautiful same-day crowns in Palestine, TX without goopy impressions, without temporary crowns and saves an additional office visit for our patients!