Dentaltown December 2013 - (Page 115)

restorative feature by Paul Caselle, DDS Fig. 1 Fig. 2 The quiet of my Sunday morning was broken when my cell phone rang. It was a patient, Susie, who had just fractured her front tooth when she slipped on ice the night before. Susie, a 21-year-old college student, was very upset because she had perfect teeth and was anxious to know how soon I could get her tooth fixed. After discussing the options with Susie and her dad the next morning, it was an easy decision for them to select a ceramic veneer. Some dentists in this case would advocate restoring the contralateral tooth to achieve a better aesthetic result; however, many patients find that unappealing and unacceptable, especially if the teeth are virgin. Prior to using CEREC CAD/CAM in 2001 I struggled with these types of restorations not only due to the difficulty of trying to match tooth shade and morphology to existing teeth but also the difficulty in communicating to the lab exactly what I wanted for the patient. This often resulted in numerous appointments for the patient and a lot of chairtime for the office. Imagine the possibilities if you had the ability to just take an image of a prepared tooth that would allow you to better see the preparation and make corrections, if needed, to achieve a great fitting restoration. It would be ideal if you could actually make the crown in the office allowing total control of every aspect of design and manufacture. One way would be to have an in-house lab but for most general dentists, this is not feasible. However, with CEREC technology and a stain and glaze oven, the single-tooth restoration is a routine procedure that is done every day in CEREC offices with predictable and satisfactory results. Controlling outcome was the major reason I adopted CEREC technology, though a very important benefit is the patient experience. Although our patients like us on a personal level, coming to the office for multiple visits is not high on their lists. If I can minimize their time while providing great results, they are extremely happy and become missionaries for our office. In Susie's case, the challenge of matching tooth morphology could be easily achieved since CEREC software gives three possible ways to design a restoration: make copy of existing tooth (Biogeneric Copy), get a proposal of tooth morphology based on surrounding teeth (Biogeneric Individual) or copy a similar tooth such as the neighboring tooth 8 (Biogeneric Reference). In this case I selected Biogeneric Individual since the surrounding teeth were in excellent condition, allowing the soft- I dentaltown.com « DECEMBER 2013 http://www.dentaltown.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown December 2013

Howard Speaks: Best Practices, 2013
Dentaltown.com Highlights
Professional Courtesy: It’s (Always) Showtime
Continuing Education Update
Second Opinion: Providing Personalized Care in Dentistry
Selling Your Soul to PPOs?
Townie Choice Awards
Hey, Carlsen! I’m Going to Trade Stocks, Time the Market and Beat It!
Long-distance Communication Led to Beautiful Full-mouth Implant Case Results
Ad Index
Product Profile: Dental EHR and Meaningful Use
What’s on Your Tray?
Perio Reports
Profile in Oral Health: Are Your Team Members Indispensable?
Dentally Incorrect
Simplifying the Challenging: The One-tooth Restoration with CEREC
White Smiles in the African Bush
Cycling for Charity

Dentaltown December 2013