CEREC Crowns are the latest advancement in cosmetic dentistry. Unlike traditional crowns, your CEREC crown will be made while you wait. Your CEREC crown will be fitted in one appointment and ready before your numbness wears off. When you walk out, you will leave with your new permanent crown!

Q : What is CEREC and how does it work?
A : CEREC is an innovative and advanced technique to make crowns. Most adults have had at least one or two crowns placed. The process starts off with a visit to the dentist. The dentist will numb your mouth and prepare the tooth so that the crown can fit onto the preparation. A "mold" or an impression of that preparation is taken and sent off to the lab. While the final crown is being prepared, the patient will have to wear a temporary crown for anywhere between a week to two weeks. The temporary restoration is very weak and tends to come off. If you have had one fall out, you probably know about how annoying it can be.

In the case of CEREC, instead of taking an impression, we scan the tooth with a computer camera device. We then design the crown on a computer screen. This information is then "sent" to the milling chamber in our office. The crown is made from a high-grade ceramic material. After the crown has been milled, we simply place it with cement onto the tooth. This is all achieved in a single appointment. You don’t have to return to be numbed again! On top of this, patients don’t have to deal with temporary procedures. They also don’t have to make return visits. The process is really no different than other traditional crown procedures. Another great advantage of CEREC is that the restorations are all-ceramic. They blend in very nicely with the person's natural tooth color. There will be no metal or any gold showing afterwards.

CEREC is simply all about convenience and delivering a high quality restoration without any compromise, within a short period of time. This is exactly why we feel CEREC is the best option for many of our patients, especially busy moms! Being able to do everything in a single appointment makes a huge difference for anyone who is very busy with their professional and personal lives.

Q : What is the lifespan of a ‘same day’ crown? Are they durable?
A : Great question! The lifespan of a same day crown is not any different from that of a lab processed crown.

However, the crowns that have the longest life span are typically gold crowns, but people usually don't want gold crowns. People are now more interested in tooth-colored restorations. We have to admit that all-ceramic crowns are weaker than gold crowns, but that is changing dramatically. There are plenty of new materials available now which are very strong and their capabilities seem to be very promising. The dental profession is moving towards these types of restorations which are much more durable than what we have had in the past.

Again, the durability depends on whether the patient is a good candidate. For instance, if someone is a heavy tooth grinder and wants a tooth colored and all-ceramic crown, we talk to them about the impact the grinding can have on such crowns. They need to know that the porcelain ones might be weaker than the gold crowns. If they still demand porcelain restorations, we highly recommend that they protect their investment in the crowns by wearing a mouth guard at night.