What is digital dentistry?
Digital dentistry is the biggest revolution our career has seen in a long time. It is the transition from a traditional analog dentistry with all the classic techniques, to one that uses modern technology of digitization and image processing. For this we have several tools, of which the main ones are: digital radiology systems and 3D CTs, CAD/CAM systems for intraoral imaging and machinery for making prosthetic restorations.
What are the advantages of digital dentistry?
The advantages we have with digital dentistry are:
- Accuracy, since we work with images managed through software, which allows us to obtain much more information and apply it both for the diagnosis of pathologies and for their treatment.
- Time, since it reduces the duration and number of patient visits.
- Convenience. Digital dentistry uses minimally invasive tools both in diagnosis and in its use in the treatment of pathologies.
- Anticipation. We can have a preview of the final result before starting many treatments, allowing us to show the patient the reality of what he or she will obtain and to obtain his or her approval.
- Optimization in the management of the patient’s digital information, improvement in the management of this information between different specialties and better communication of the treatments with the laboratory.
What is the CEREC system?
Before explaining what the CEREC system is, it is necessary to explain what CAD/CAM technology is. The term comes from C.A.D. (Computer Aided Design) which is the program that helps us with the design and C.A.M. (Computer Aided Manufacturing) which is the tool that with the guidance of the computer will allow us to manufacture.
Being able to design and manufacture with the help of the computer, is what we call CAD/CAM technology, and includes graphic design, database management to achieve it and manufacturing through specialized digitally guided machinery.
The CEREC system, developed by the German company Sirona (today Dentsply Sirona) is the system that has most developed CAD/CAM technology for clinical use and is the benchmark in this field. CEREC allows us to manage in our office the entire process of making our prosthetic restorations, called digital flow, from the intraoral scanner, the design and manufacture of the same. We can make inlays, onlays, veneers, crowns and bridges on teeth and crowns on implants. And the best thing is that we can do it in a single visit. This way of working is called Chairside technology.
The advantages we have with CEREC are:
- Saving time by performing everything in a single visit, with all that this brings. Only one anesthesia, without provisionals and leaving the office with the definitive work in the mouth.
- The comfort for the patient by not having to use the uncomfortable measurements with impression materials.
- The adjustment and precision of the work, since this technology avoids any distortion that may occur when the process is analogical and goes through multiple operators in its preparation.
- The biocompatibility that exists between the tissues of the mouth with the wide range of ceramic and hybrid materials, which we will select according to the characteristics of the rehabilitation to be performed.
- Conservative treatments, since we can choose the most suitable solution in each case, preserving the dental structure as much as possible.
- Results with great aesthetics, due to the design proposals and the final finish of the various ceramic materials available.
- Being able to have a digital file of the mouth of our patients, which allows us to replicate, if necessary, in an identical way in the future, any piece that may suffer any alteration or loss.
In what type of pathologies is digital dentistry with the CEREC system useful?
The CEREC system is useful in various specialties of dentistry, allowing us to treat various pathologies. Its main indication is the fabrication of various types of prosthetic rehabilitations, from the treatment of a single tooth or a single implant to prostheses that cover several teeth. With this we correct fractured teeth, extensive carious lesions on several sides, partial edentulism (absences), esthetic problems of shape and color, loss of vertical dimension, etc.
We can also make with the help of a 3D software a surgical guide that allows us the assisted and precise placement of dental implants in a predetermined position, which in turn allows us to have previously manufactured a provisional prosthesis that will fit with great precision. We can also make with the help of a complementary program, in pathologies of the TMJ (Temporo Mandibular Joint), unloading splints. In the field of Orthodontics, in pathologies of dental malpositions, we can export our scans to companies specialized in the manufacture of orthodontic aligners.