Hello and welcome to another edition of a Ask T-bone!
Today I’m going to answer two questions again in another episode, and they’re related to each other.
So the first one is:
Thank you! I’ve own a CEREC for 2 years but work with it for 5+ years. I feel like I’m not stepping outside my comfort zone in my practice. I need to do more than just mild one to two unit cases. I need an online resource or an in-person class to push me ahead. I want to do bridge work and to work and create all my implant abutments. I also own and XG 3D and received my training from you and Charlotte last January. What should I be reading, watching to get me ahead? Also need it block update and what to use and when. Currently only using HT e.max but trying empty now as well. You are amazing.
Thank you for saying that I’m amazing, it greatly feed my ego and I greatly appreciate it. Thank you for listening and thank you for submitting your question. So this is a quite honestly a common issue that I see with CEREC owners and honestly it was an issue that I felt myself in that, we get stuck in doing what we are unbelievably comfortable with. And what happens is when we don’t get outside of our comfort zone, before you know it 3 for 5 years pass by and things around us have changed, the other people have passed us by. It’s like that old saying my dad told me, which I’m sure he stole it from somebody else, is that if you’re not moving forward you’re moving backward and you need to move forward. Now CEREC is great for one of two unit cases, unbelievable for that, and truthfully that’s what 80% of dentists do with it. But our goal is for us to do much more than that. And truthfully the first step is to know what can CEREC do and what’s in or should be in your comfort zone. So one: Any posterior restoration can be done with CEREC. Quite honestly I think one two three unit anterior restorations right in the Wheelhouse of CEREC. I think multiple there are six, eight, ten unit cases are very possible CEREC, but that takes someone who’s very comfortable with the fundamentals and the intermediate stuff to really be able to get to that advanced level. But the other area that we’re not utilizing enough is our implant restorations, our implant guide, especially as an XG 3D owner. Are you able to mill your implant guides? Are you milling your implant guides? Are you fabricating your own implant restorations chairside? You know so in terms of an online resource, I would love to tell you that we at 3D dentist have a great online resource with CEREC but quite honestly we do not. To me they’re two things that come to mind when it comes to an online resource for CEREC learning. Number one is with my great friend Samir Puri, at cerecdoctors.com, and number two is with my good friend James Cleam at cadstar.org. Both of these resources quite honestly are the best when it comes to CEREC online education. They also do have Hands-On programs, certainly I’d love to put a plug in here for our Hands-On programmes at 3D dentist on CEREC in Raleigh, North Carolina. Now honestly when it comes to your integration training and learning, which is the use of CERER with your cone beam unit, humbly I don’t think there’s anyone better in the country than me at this, and what we’re training and what we have available online resources is fantastic. So we have approximate 130 to 140 videos available for free on our website at www.3d-dentist.com and we also have certainly our ultimate 3D integration training program, which is 3 days Hands-On, which focuses on covering virtual planning implant, abutments and crowns and surgical guide fabrication and creating the most efficient workflow in Implant Dentistry. Now in terms of your question or a block update, there is so much more than e.max, certainly e.max is in my opinion the quote on quote gold standard for CEREC blocks. They are highly aesthetic and they are very long lasting. I would say that the empty blocks are more popular to me today than the HT blocks. AndI believe that my experience has been with the HT block that the great for partial coverage Restorations and veneers when you’re not making big color changes, but I find them for full coverage to be a little grey. I know that many can get over that by using a lighter shade and some characterization. I’m a big LT fan and I have limited experience with the empty myself, but I think there’s also a lot of movement towards the hybrid ceramics, and by that I referred directly to enamic from Vita and CEREC Smart from GC America. I really do enjoy these materials and especially as a PPO dentist I find that these materials work quite nicely, and they’re very efficient and predictable, and they fit within the business model of a PPO dentist where we can’t spend an hour and a half to two hours on a crown and instead it’s been more like an hour, hour 10 minutes on a Crown. So, on those situations I really like the enamic and CEREC smart and quite honestly we’re having great results with those materials. Another new material that’s out there now is dentsply celtra duo, it is a lithium silicate that can be not fired and when not fired it has one strength and then when it is fired it has a much higher strength similar to that of the e.max. They are dentsply now acquired, merge with Sirona is making a big push on that material, so you know there’s a lot more materials out there and quite frankly if one is a CEREC owner and is serious about really utilizing the technology, in my opinion you must be attending at least a national meeting on CEREC learning and at least a Hands-On update every year, and a Hands-On training every year, to expand your skills. So again if you’re a CEREC owner I think it’s a three-pronged approach, number one you should attend a National event, one that create awareness of everything that’s going on that creates in the bigger ration and a passion towards what’s possible for you. Number to you should be attending an annual update which it usually should be done by a local Study Club, or can be done certainly online as well, so that you can keep up with some of the new changes in the software and new features, and then you should be attending at least Hands-on Program every year that allows you to continue to learn and focus on new techniques that expand your clinical practice. Now, key point there is this Hands-On programs I suggest should expand your clinical practice, not just teach you how to do what you’re already doing better, because that to me is part of the update, and then the invigoration national meeting, but more about say hey I’m not doing anteriors with my CEREC I need to learn to do more anteriors with it.
So unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to get to question number two, so we’ll do that in a separate podcast. This one took a little bit longer.
I want to thank you guys again for listening and hopefully we provided you some value today!
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