Sirona Cerec 3

I received my second crown today. My first one was installed three years ago. At that time, it took two visits. On the first visit, my tooth was prepared, an impression was taken, and a temporary restoration was placed on my tooth. I had to wait a couple of weeks for the permanent crown to be produced in a far away facility. On the second visit, I had the temporary pried off and had the permanent restoration put on.

Today, I received my custom made permanent crown within an hour, using the Sirona Cerec 3 wonder machine. First, my dentist took an optical impression of the prepared tooth. Instead of filling a tray with impression goop that you must bite into and hold in your mouth until it hardens, my dentist used a camera to take a digital picture of my tooth.



Next, the CEREC machine helped create the restoration for my tooth. The digital picture was converted into a 3-dimensional virtual model on the computer screen. I found a movie clip on YouTube that pretty accurately reflects the steps my dentist went through. After a few minutes, my dentist clicked a button, and the restoration design data is sent to a separate milling machine in the office. A ceramic block that matched my tooth shade was placed in the milling machine. About 10 - 20 minutes later, my all-ceramic, tooth-colored restoration was finished, and my dentist bonded the crown in my mouth to ensure proper fit and bite.