What is Cerec? A Surbiton dentist tells all
CEREC is a unique invention and procedure that allows a dentist to be a dental technician in their own surgery. It consists of two machines which are adjoined to a computer system, one is a digital camera and the other is a milling machine. Let’s say you have an appointment with your dentist because you have cracked or chipped tooth, the dentist recommends a crown to solve the problem. They will take digital pictures that are fed straight into the computer, this will produce a 3D image of the tooth and a 3D picture of the crown. The information is fed automatically to the milling machine and a blank, readymade ceramic block is clamped into position. The machine will now proceed to mill the crown to order, specifically for you and your problem tooth. While this is going on the dentist will prepare the rogue tooth to have the new crown fitted, to do this they will grind and file down the tooth so the chip or crack is illuminated and the crown will fit straight on. This can all be done in most cases in around 30 minutes to an hour. This unique and innovative system can solve many problems almost instantly, it allows the dentist, with very little training, to do all the work in-house and save you not just time, but money and less visits to the surgery. Veneers and more complicated treatments such as a bridge can also be solved using the CEREC system. This is advanced dental science at its best.