CEREC Same-Day Crowns near Dixon

A traditional crown takes two visits and two or three weeks: your tooth is prepared, a gooey impression is taken, you wear a plastic temporary while a lab makes the crown, and then you come back to have it cemented. CEREC (Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics) collapses that into a single appointment. We scan your prepared tooth with a small digital camera, design the crown on screen while you watch, and mill it from a solid block of dental ceramic in our office. About an hour later it is bonded in place, and you leave with a finished tooth.

Beyond convenience, there are real clinical advantages. Digital scanning is more comfortable and more precise than impression material. There is no temporary crown to break or come loose, and no second round of numbing. The ceramic we use is strong, color-matched to your surrounding teeth, and contains no metal, so there is no dark line at the gum. Because the crown is designed from a scan of your actual bite, adjustments at delivery are usually minimal.

CEREC handles more than full crowns. The same technology produces inlays and onlays, conservative ceramic restorations that repair a badly damaged tooth while preserving more healthy structure than a full crown would. For a tooth that is cracked, has a large failing filling, is worn down, or has had a root canal, a CEREC restoration is often the ideal fix.

Not every case is right for same-day ceramics. Some front teeth with demanding esthetics, some bridges, and some very long-span restorations are better made by a dental laboratory, and Dr. Carter will tell you when that is the case. But for most single crowns, CEREC is faster, more comfortable and equally durable, and it has become the way we restore the majority of broken teeth in this office.