The CEREC^® System – Crowns in One Visit

Dental crowns are one of the most important restorations we offer. A crown can save a broken or decayed tooth by holding it together & protecting it from further damage. It can also serve as a beautiful replacement for an unsightly tooth.

In dentistry, a crown or a cap is a fake tooth that fits on top of a damaged tooth. They are custom-made to fit your smile & are built to last. There are a number of conditions that rely on crowns to save your teeth. You may even need a crown after undergoing certain dental treatments. A root canal or large filling can weaken an affected tooth & make it vulnerable to cracking or breaking, so a crown is needed for protection.

Procedure Overview

At many dental practices, getting a crown can be a lengthy & difficult process. At a bare minimum, most offices will require you to come in for two appointments: one to prepare your tooth & take an impression to send to a lab, & another to place your permanent crown. You have to wait at least two weeks between those appointments—if not longer. In some cases, the crown you waited weeks for won’t fit or needs adjustments. If that happens, the dentist will need to take new impressions & you will need to wait a few more weeks for the lab to fix your crown.

Just like a typical dental crown appointment, the dentist will perform any necessary fillings or root canals before preparing your tooth. To prepare your tooth, they will file it down so the crown can fit over it. After your tooth is prepared, we will need to take impressions of your teeth in order to make an accurate sculpt that fits comfortably. During a regular crown procedure, you have to bite into a tray of goop for several minutes so the dentist can get an accurate impression of your teeth. You may have to repeat this multiple times until the impression is perfect.

When it comes to taking impressions of your teeth, CEREC^® is a clear winner. Our system eliminates the hassle involved with traditional goop-based impressions by using specialized cameras to create a 3-D digital model. The dentist will review this model on a computer to make sure it is accurate & to select an appropriate color to match the rest of your teeth. Once you are satisfied with the 3-D impression, the CEREC^® machine will take 10–20 minutes to mill your new crown. Since we don’t need to send the impressions to a lab, you won’t have to deal with any troublesome temporary crowns while you wait. Your permanent crown will be placed as soon as the machine has finished milling it.

Getting a dental crown doesn’t have to be difficult. Let us show you how the CEREC^® system can restore your smile in just one visit.