High-tech teeth: Dentistry is going digital Suffer a cracked or broken tooth and your dentist is likely to recommend a crown, a custom-fitted cap to cover it and restore the tooths shape, strength and appearance. Traditionally that meant having a model of the tooth and surrounding area made using a mold, sending the impression to a dental laboratory to make the crown, having a temporary restoration put in place, waiting a week or more for the finished crown to be sent back to the dentists office and returning for a second visit where the temporary is removed and the new crown is cemented into place. In the last several years, however, an increasing number of dentists have embraced a quicker option. Using computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technologies, many have begun making crowns in one-office visit while the patient waits. After taking a digital scan of the mouth using an intra-oral camera (think of an over-sized pen with a video camera on the end), a 3-Dimage of the teeth and gums appears on a computer screen. Based on the position, size and shape of the damaged tooth, computer software suggests the ideal dimensions of the needed crown. The dentist fine-tunes the virtual restoration and sends the digital information to a milling machine that carves the crown out of a ceramic block, ready to be bonded to the patients tooth. The entire process takes less than two hours Commonly referred to as a same-day crown, or a crown while you wait, the procedure is one of several advancements that reflect the growth in digital dentistry.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 06:58:52 +0000
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