With all the advanced services that our office offers to our patients (including implants, sedation, orthodontics and treatment for sleep apnea/snoring), you might forget about the great technology that we use daily for our patients’ everyday restorative needs.

One of our most significant tools is the CEREC Machine. CEREC is the technology that allows dentists to not only prepare a tooth for a crown, but also to actually make the crown and have the final restoration bonded to the prepared tooth all at the same appointment. You see, traditionally, when a patient needed a crown because of a broken down tooth, the dentist would numb the patient with anesthetic and prepare the tooth with a drill. Then the dentist would take an impression of the prepared tooth with a mold that takes about five minutes to harden, make a temporary crown for you to live with for the next 2-3 weeks, and then cements in the final crown after numbing the patient a second time at this subsequent appointment.

The process used to be time consuming and inefficient. With the CEREC technology, Cosmetic Dentistry can install your crown in one visit. We will prepare the tooth, take a picture of the tooth with a small digital camera shaped like a thick wand, and while the patient waits, the dentist can design and fabricate the final crown in as little as 20 minutes.

Even with such little time, the CEREC Machine produces flawless crowns. These crowns are accurately made in a “milling chamber” in 10 minutes. They are then polished to the highest shine that beats even my high-tech lab. These crown are beautiful. They look so much like natural teeth that our patients have a difficult time identifying which tooth we added the crown to.

One of my clients is a fellow dentist who travels a great distance to come to my office. The other day, we used the CEREC Machine to create his crown and couldn’t help marvelling at the beautiful result.

If you have been advised by your dentist that you need a crown and he or she requires 2 appointments to provide this service, perhaps you should consider a CEREC crown and call us for an appointment!