How To Choose Between CEREC® and Traditional Dental Crowns

If one of your teeth has severe decay damage, your dentist may recommend a dental crown as a treatment option. A crown is a tooth-shaped cap that goes over the original tooth or a dental implant. They can also hold a dental bridge in place and protect a broken or damaged tooth. A popular crown option is a CEREC® crown. Read on to learn more about the advantages of a CEREC® compared to a traditional crown.

What are CEREC® crowns?

CEREC® technology makes it possible to get a customized restoration placed on a tooth during a single visit. The acronym stands for the Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics. Until CEREC® restorations were developed, restorations like crowns required two trips to the dentist before the dentist could place them.

The first visit is where the dentist prepares the patient's teeth for restoration, while they place the customized crown during the second visit. The process typically takes about two weeks, which is how long it takes technicians in a lab to make the restoration and send it back to the dentist. Meanwhile, the patient likely wears a temporary crown until the dentist places the permanent crown.

Thanks to CEREC®, the patient's teeth can be prepared and fitted with crowns during a single visit. In addition, the technology allows dentists to make customized crowns on-site using solid ceramic blocks. As a result, the patient gets a more precise restoration than restorations made in a dental lab, leading to a better fit and a longer-lasting restoration.

Choosing between traditional or CEREC® crowns

Here are some of the key things you should consider when choosing between CEREC or traditional crowns:

1. CEREC crowns are more convenient

Choosing a CEREC crown over a traditional one saves the patient the hassle of making two trips to the dentist's office. Instead, they only have to visit the dentist once to have the problem they are dealing with addressed with a crown. That means less time taken off work, school, or any other obligations they may have.

2. More accurate impressions

When a dentist takes an impression of a patient's tooth for a traditional crown, the impression will not always be accurate enough to create a comfortable and durable crown. Traditional crowns often need adjusting not to inhibit the patient's biting and chewing ability. Impressions depend on the following to make a crown that best suits the patient:

• Quality of impression material
• If the impression tray is custom or one-size-fits-all
• The amount of saliva a patient has in their mouth
• Individual dental skill

Another advantage of CEREC crowns is that they help eliminate any potential flaws with the impression-making process. The dentist takes a scan of the patient's mouth. The images feed into a computer system, and the CEREC crown is replicated from the images. This process usually eliminates the need for adjustments. When a patient needs multiple crowns, this accuracy often helps the dentist to better accommodate the amount of space necessary.

3. CEREC negates the need for a temporary crown

The traditional way of placing crowns requires wearing a temporary crown for about two weeks. The dentist will place a temporary crown to protect any teeth they have prepared for crowns by removing enamel from their sides. To ensure a good fit with crowns, the dentist will shave the teeth down before they fit the teeth with the restoration.

However, this process removes the natural protection the enamel provides, so these teeth need temporary restorations to serve as artificial enamel moving forward. In addition, the temporary crown protects the inner dentin from irritants in the mouth.

With CEREC, there is no need for a temporary crown. Instead, the patient gets their customized crown about 30 minutes after preparing their tooth. They can then return to their daily routine and will not have to return for a second appointment.

4. Improved aesthetics

CEREC and the traditional approach to placing crowns can both provide a patient with natural-looking restorations, but the former tends to be slightly better. This is because the CEREC process can better match the contours of the patient's teeth more closely. In addition, a CEREC crown lacks a metal core, making it easier to match the restoration's color with the color of the surrounding natural teeth. 

5. Improved fit

CEREC crowns are made to a higher standard of precision, so they often fit better than traditional crowns. This higher standard lowers the risk of developing complications, such as the restoration becoming loose. Better-fitting restorations also tend to last longer.

Explore a more convenient dental crown option

Thanks to CEREC®, you no longer have to wait two weeks to get a crown fitted on a damaged tooth. They are also more durable and more convenient to better accommodate your schedule. Skip the discomfort and inconvenience of a temporary crown and go into the dentist's office for a second appointment. Contact our Austin dental clinic to set up an appointment.

Request an appointment here: https://austin.lifetimedental.com or call Austin Lifetime Dental at (512) 387-9049 for an appointment in our Austin office.

Check out what others are saying about our dental services on Yelp: CEREC Dentist in Austin, TX.