how cool is this

[hockeydentist]

I just saw the most coolest thing! The dental office that I volunteer for has just purchased a new toy for the office. Its 3d crown instrument. Set to a computer the patients has a picture done of his mouth and then a 3d picture of a crown where it needs to go. Wallla a mold is made of the crown to fit perfectly in the patients mouth. Then the crown. I was so awed by that for some reason. Amazing how technology and healthcare, can work together to make our lifes so much nicer. I can only imagine the downside of this new toy, is that the labs are going to loose money from crowns. Anybody else see this new toy???? Hope someday I will be able to get this toy.

hd

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[Dentalist]

I was wondering about the cost of these toys: are they one of financial challenges dentists face? As technologies advance, dentists would like to buy more and more new toys like this.

 

[aphistis]

This magic device you're talking about is called a Cerec 3D, and it's another point of controversy. It's a big topic at DentalTown, if you want to get see what people think. Some love it, others hate it. One thing for sure; right now, it's still expensive as heck. Other disadvantages involve precision and fit; these chairside mills can have a tendency to require more aggressive preps, produce rougher fits and looser margins than lab-created prosth. The primary advantage, obviously, is getting C&B treatments taken care of in a single appointment. Maybe someone else who's actually seen or used one can offer more information.


Edit: 1300 posts, woohoo!

 

[ItsGavinC]

CAD/CAM machines, like the Cerek ones, do cost a pretty penny. Some dentists swear it is an excellent investment, while others shun it as something they have no need for.

 

[UBTom]

Yup, there are still plenty of disadvantages for CEREC:

- CEREC is not good for multiple-unit/long span bridges.

- All-ceramic crowns demand pretty aggressive prepping (i.e. cut away more tooth structure) because ceramic needs bulk for strength as Bill mentioned.

- Crowns milled out of single-color ceramic blocks don't make very good-looking crowns. One would require a glazing machine to add on colors, and that won't look nearly as good as what a lab tech does with a PFM crown with multiple-layer coloring and translucency effects. Personally I wouldn't use CEREC to make anterior crowns.

- Crown abutments for RPDs work best with a metal framework for the guide planes and occlusal rests. That's why PFM crowns for RPD abutments have no porcelain in the rest and guide plane areas.

There are other disadvantages but I'm too wasted at the moment to remember.

 

[RaiderNation]

Yeah, one fo the dentists where I shadowed a couple of months ago talked to me about that. He said its pretty expensive, but its probably woth it in the long run...but then again, in a few years the price will go down and they will become much more accessible. He seemed pretty excited about getting one though.

 

[ryche22]

the ortho office i work at has orthocad.

its pretty cool, you take a stone model which has already has been 3d scanned in the machine. then you attach a bracket w/ adhesive to a "uv light pen" which has a camera attached inside, and go to the tooth on the model where you want to place thebracket.

you follow visual prompts on the computer screen on a very precise orientation and location of the bracket on each tooth. when the bracket is exactly on, it beeps...then you feel like a bad ass cause you hit a foot pedal and a blinding light comes out of the pen to light cure the bracket....well maybe not a bad ass...i got carried away

after bonding all the brackets to the model, the brackets can be placed in a mouth tray....then all the brackets can be placed in the patients mouth at once. this is called indirect bonding.


www.orthocad.com
wild stuff.

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