It is little wonder therefore that treatments nowadays are computer or IT based. Examples include “key-hole surgeries”, laser treatment and making crowns or inlays (fillings). Dental Surgeons can now offer computerized
dental treatment to restore damaged or diseased tooth structure which is a Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics (the acronym of which is CEREC).
Before the advent of the cerec to restore a tooth by making for instance a crown, inlay, it involved a series of appointments where the dentist would take a manual impression using an impression material (like thick yoghurt). This process took anywhere from 5-10 minutes. Thereafter the impressions would be sent to the dental lab (anywhere from here in Kampala to Nairobi, South Africa or USA) This means time cost of freight and a few times things get misplaced or misdirected.. During this time the patient must have a temporary crown or temporary veneer/on lay or inlay and sometimes these are very uncomfortable and or unesthetic. The temporaries may also become loose or come off !! This meant this patient needed at least 2 appointments, 2 anaesthetic injections one on each visit and a longer waiting period before fixing the crown made in the lab. In the lab the crown or veneer is made by the technician and all this process is prone to human error! Anything could go wrong from the time the impressions are taken to the time the final crown or restoration is fitted. So with cerec in one appointment the procedure is completed. The tooth is prepared as usual with drills. After preparation a digital camera is used to take a 3D picture of the tooth. This is called an optical impression and may take about 10 seconds. At this point you can see your own tooth preparation on the computer screen. The technology for this is the type used in mapping the earth surface in hi-tech computer guided cruise missiles which we see on the TV in movies and war news. So this digital camera maps out whole teeth . The picture (optical impression) is then converted by the computer software into a model and this is viewed on the computer screen. Unlike the dental lab where there is very little magnification possible the computer magnifies the image of the teeth 12 times enabling a clear vision which considerably reduces errors from poor vision and enables a more accurate fit of whatever is made making cerec the most accurate fit possible of any restorations by the dentist. Using the software on the computer the crown is then designed on the computer from the 3 D model made from the optical impression. This takes approximately ten minutes. When the restoration is designed it is then milled from a solid block. This solid block is made from a ceramic powder under very high pressure and temperature (700 degrees).

This makes it one of the hardest (strongest) material which can be used to restore a tooth known to man- stronger than gold at the correct thickness for restoring !! It has the best esthetic shade so teeth restored with it will look more natural than with porcelain crowns. Cerec crowns have no metal in them so they look very esthetic. Better still it takes 1 appointment, 1 Injection for anesthesia and NO physical impression which can be very uncomfortable sometimes when using the non cerec style. So the cerec crowns have many advantages: Time savings. You usually only have to go one time, as opposed to two trips for a traditional crown. This also reduces the number of local anesthetic injections (shots) needed. 2. More conservation of tooth structure. Often times a partial coverage restoration can be completed vs a full conventional crown. 3. Stronger porcelain. Milled ceramic is stronger than hand layered and pressed made by the dental technician . 4. Esthetics. Homogenous pocelain blends in better than other porcelains. 5. Natural. Ability to copy the natural tooth before preparing it to make a crown so what was there previously can yield restorations that are duplicates of the pre-prepared tooth.

The ceramic restorations contract and expand at rates almost similar to normal tooth structure Finally the cerec crown can be bonded to the natural tooth. It is therefore possible to restore a healthy natural tooth which is flat.

This next patient had 4 teeth restored using cerec crowns.
For further Infomation please contact:

Pan Dental Surgery 67, Buganda Road, Kampala.
Tel: +256 312 251525
Email: tom@pandentalsurgery.com