Dental crowns are a popular dental treatment that can completely restore the function and beauty of a damaged tooth. In the past, getting a dental crown was a time-consuming, expensive, and tedious process. With traditional crowns, patients would have to take multiple trips to the dentist to be fitted for the new crown while a temporary crown is placed, then their dental impressions were sent off to be created in a dental lab somewhere. Fortunately, using advanced CEREC technology, we can now create and place high quality dental crowns in one office visit. Beyond the same day convenience, CEREC crowns offer a lot of benefits that you cannot achieve with other restorative treatments.

How are Same Day Crowns Created?

Same day crowns are created using CEREC technology. The CEREC machine allows us to create high-quality ceramic crowns in our office during your initial appointment. As we mentioned earlier, traditional crowns required multiple visits and for a temporary crown to be placed, while your permanent crown is created in the laboratory. Temporary crowns can be highly inconvenient, as they often don’t look natural, and they can even cause pain and discomfort. They also often require patients to compromise their diet to avoid food that could cause the temporary crown to fall off or become loose.

CEREC technology uses an infrared camera to allow our advanced dental software to custom-create a permanent crown that is perfectly customized for your smile from a block of ceramic. With CEREC technology, we are able to carve a crown in about 20 minutes. The tooth also uses color-matching technology, which is then polished to make it look exactly like your natural tooth. After the crown is finished, we inspect it for a comfortable fit, then place it with cement. Your same day crown experience will take a total of 1-2 hours to complete.

What Do CEREC Crowns Treat?

Like traditional crowns, CEREC crowns are created to look like a real tooth. Dental crowns, sometimes referred to as “caps”, work to restore the shape, size, strength, and appearance of damaged teeth by encapsulating the entire visible area of the tooth to the gum line. Dental crowns can treat a range of dental conditions, including:

● Teeth that are weakened from decay or trauma. Dental crowns hold the remaining tooth structure together to keep it from becoming cracked.

● Teeth that are already broken or worn down. Dental crowns restore the function of broken teeth.

● Teeth that require large cavity fillings. Dental crowns support teeth that are weakened from large cavity fillings and root canals.

● Missing teeth. Dental crowns are used along with dental bridges to support the structure of the restoration. CEREC crowns are also sometimes used to cover dental implants.

● Discolored, chipped, or misaligned teeth. Dental crowns are a perfect cosmetic solution to improve the appearance of abnormal teeth.

Advantages of Same Day Crowns

While same day crowns technology can sometimes cost more than lab created crowns, same day crowns can help save you money in the long run. For one, fewer office visits are needed, which means you won’t miss work for expensive dental treatments. In most cases, your dental insurance will also cover same day crowns, which makes the treatment more affordable. Same day crowns are often less costly than patients suspect. More benefits of same day crowns include:

● No dental putty is used. With traditional crowns, we often take impressions of your mouth using a type of dental putty. Patients find dental putty off-putting, as it has a bad taste and can leave a gross feeling in the mouth. By using digital mapping of your mouth, we don’t have to take messy putty impressions.

● Same day crowns use high-quality material. Same day ceramic crowns are much less bulky than porcelain and metal crowns, which are notorious for making teeth and gums feel irritated. Ceramic crowns look natural in your mouth and feel similar to tooth enamel. Not to mention, ceramic is highly durable and less likely to break or expand with hot and cold temperatures, allowing you freedom to eat your favorite foods.

● Better fitting than traditional crowns. Digital technology allows us to create a crown that precisely fits over your teeth. They also take your bite into consideration, creating grooves and contours in the crown, so your teeth close properly over your new tooth structure.

● Same day crowns look better. Traditional crowns often create an unnatural looking black line along your gum line that same day crowns do not. CEREC crowns come in different shades, perfectly matching the color of your natural tooth.

● Fewer injections and less discomfort. Due to the fact that your same day crown will be placed in one day, you will only need one injection of local anesthetic to prepare the damaged tooth and place the final crown. With traditional crowns, local anesthetic will need to be injected while the tooth is prepared and the temporary crown is placed, then in your next visit when the permanent crown is placed.

Same day crowns provide an effective, beautiful restoration that will last for years. Want to learn more about same day crowns or schedule a consultation? Call Dr. Sam’s Premier Dentistry today at 903-708-6400.