If you have a damaged tooth, your dentist might recommend putting a crown on it.  As the name suggests, a dental crown caps the tooth.  A crown can be used to cover a dental implant or tooth that has undergone root canal, replace a large filling, improve a badly shaped tooth, repair a fractured tooth or protect a tooth in danger of fracturing.

Previously, dentists had to prepare the tooth for a crown by reducing the size and subsequently taking a mold.  The mold would then be sent to a lab where the crown would be created.  This method meant that installing a crown was always a two-visit procedure; the patient had to wait for the crown to arrive in order for the process to be completed, which could be uncomfortable and frustrating.  With the new CEREC technology, your local Staten Island dentist office of Oakwood Dental can save you the trouble of setting aside time for two visits.

CEREC is an acronym for Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics.  The term can also stand for CEramic REConstruction.  This software makes it possible for dentists to take a digital image of the teeth and cut the ceramic crown right in the office while the patient is sitting in the chair, allowing the procedure to be completed in one visit.  In cases where the crown does not fit perfectly over the surface of the tooth the dentist can make alterations then and there, whereas in the past that would have added an additional one to two weeks to the processing time of the crown, leaving the patient with an unfinished tooth.

Aside from the convenience factor, CEREC also offers an improvement to the aesthetic results of a traditional dental crown.  Traditional crowns are PFM, or porcelain fused to metal, which leaves a black line at the base of the gum.  With CEREC, you don’t have to worry about visible metal components since you can have an all white restoration.

Oakwood Dental has become a proud user of CEREC in an effort to continually improve the services we offer our patients.  If you need a crown installed by a Staten Island dentist, Oakwood Dental can offer you expert care and leading-edge technology for your comfort and convenience.