CAD/CAM questions

[futuremrsDr<3]

Hi, I've been wondering how CAD/CAM is implemented in an everyday office? Would dental school teach this? Does this technology require supplemental training you need to earn on your own?
If I've taken AutoCAD classes as part of my undergrad does that mean I could use this technology as a dentist?
I am pre-dental, but about to graduate soon. I am just getting some extra courses planned out and wanted to know how helpful it would be to take AutoCAD now.
Thanks for the info!

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[Sl1d3r]

Only take AutoCAD if it something that interests you and you would like to know how to do it. It will not translate over to dentistry CAD-CAM. The manufacturers of CAD-CAM and their associated software make it so easy to navigate that it is click and play when creating crowns. Every software is different and the user interference can change. If you want to go take AutoCAD then do it for your own pleasure, I wouldn’t do it with the hope to be more proficient at CAD-CAM dentistry. If you’d rather go take underwater basket weaving. Go do that. Just enjoy the end of your undergrad if all of your requirements are done. Now is the time to breathe and relax. If it were me, I’d throw in that volleyball class you always wanted to take instead.

 

[TanMan]

Hi, I've been wondering how CAD/CAM is implemented in an everyday office? Would dental school teach this? Does this technology require supplemental training you need to earn on your own?
If I've taken AutoCAD classes as part of my undergrad does that mean I could use this technology as a dentist?
I am pre-dental, but about to graduate soon. I am just getting some extra courses planned out and wanted to know how helpful it would be to take AutoCAD now.
Thanks for the info!

Dental CADCAM (CEREC) is pretty idiotproof and streamlined already. There are other CADCAM systems out there, but it's just not as streamlined. This technology is primarily used to acquire an intraoral scan, automated design for the most part with some tweaks/input needed from the user, and sent to a mill for grinding/milling. Dental schools may or may not teach this system to you, but you don't need a formal course to teach you the mechanics of the CEREC system. Other systems are clunkier and do require training because they are not intuitive. Now, you might think I'm bashing all other systems, but I have experience with a fair number of intraoral scanners and the ceramill motion 2 (on top of the cerecs that we have).

Without context and knowing the function/anatomy of a tooth, it's hard to understand the design processes. Do I think taking AutoCAD would help? Not in the dental aspect, but perhaps in some other facet of life.

 

[LeagueofLigTies]

Hi, I've been wondering how CAD/CAM is implemented in an everyday office? Would dental school teach this? Does this technology require supplemental training you need to earn on your own?
If I've taken AutoCAD classes as part of my undergrad does that mean I could use this technology as a dentist?
I am pre-dental, but about to graduate soon. I am just getting some extra courses planned out and wanted to know how helpful it would be to take AutoCAD now.
Thanks for the info!

I’m not sure if all schools have CAD/CAM. When I went to my NYU interview they basically said you aren’t really allowed to use it outside of clinic. I know Stony Brook has a whole curriculum built around CAD/CAM.

 

[schmoob]

I’m not sure if all schools have CAD/CAM. When I went to my NYU interview they basically said you aren’t really allowed to use it outside of clinic. I know Stony Brook has a whole curriculum built around CAD/CAM.

Why would you need to use it outside of clinic?

 

[LeagueofLigTies]

Why would you need to use it outside of clinic?

To practice in sim labs and class so you know how to use the technology when it comes time for clinic

 

[AONLINE]

To practice in sim labs and class so you know how to use the technology when it comes time for clinic

It’s very costly for them to have the whole class of 100 students playing around with CADCAM in pre-clinic. Just learn to do it when you actually have a patient that needs a crown.

 

[schmoob]

To practice in sim labs and class so you know how to use the technology when it comes time for clinic

Just curious, so you prep a typodont tooth, scan it, have it milled, and then you cement it back on the prep?
CEREC is pretty intuitive and easy, I wouldn’t let the that be a factor in your decision. However I would recommend Stony Brook over NYU.

 

[TanMan]

To practice in sim labs and class so you know how to use the technology when it comes time for clinic

Scanning a typodont is easy. Scanning intraorally is the difficult part. Teeth will not be lined up ideally most of the time. There will be deviations from ideal and that's where the simlab experience can't really replicate the intraoral aspect. The administration phase of the crown tends to be where people are afraid at first, but it's very intuitive.

 

[Grinz]

Just be lucky you have cad/cam at your school. I pay over 100K for a public school and no access to cad/cam. Still required to pour and cut our own dies. If we finish our C/B requirements then we can use the cad/cam in the prosth clinic but the school still makes us take a PvS impression, pour it, cut the die, trim it, then take the stone model and scan it. Kinda defeats the point of using an IO scanner.

 

[Adam_W]

I had a CEREC for a couple of years and sold it, FWIW. It's really nothing special.

If you are used to using actual CAD software, you can catch right on. The software is designed for anyone to use.

 

[TanMan]

I had a CEREC for a couple of years and sold it, FWIW. It's really nothing special.

If you are used to using actual CAD software, you can catch right on. The software is designed for anyone to use.

Definitely, it's a tool like everything else. It has to fit your practice model and that's the problem with a lot of these products. Many times, it's a leap of faith on whether they will work because most of these products don't have a trial period/moneyback guarantee.