Well – Life Beyond CEREC.
CEREC is an amazing tool – one still used in my practice daily. But I have personally outgrown the limitations of the system. It’s essentially the same capabilities for the past 10 years – while I have expanded and grown exponentially.
This morning (yes – a FRIDAY morning) I saw this young lady for ‘simple’ 2 front teeth. These cases an bite you in the ass. IMHO, they require more skill and more finesse than larger cosmetic cases.
Contours Matter. Lenght/Shape matters. Line Angles Matter. Color and characterization matters.
So I follow the same proven process.
Waxup. Prototypes. Patient Approval. Fabricate Finals.
The difference is now this is done using a totally digital NON-CEREC workflow. I don’t believe CEREC is capable of this and if so – totally too complicated.
Step 1 – Diagnostic Waxup with exocad.
Step 2. Rough Prep – I break the midline contact almost every time – gives me wiggle room to correct any discrepancies.
Step 3. Finalize a Smooth Prep. I like using a red diamond and then this ultrasonic to get smooth ideal margins.
Step 4. Design Temps. Here is where exocad starts to shine (if not already from how easy it is to do these waxups). I can now retrofit my new prep scan to the old pre-op scan and have the waxup simply overlay onto the preps.
Step 5. Print Temps
Step 6. Deliver Prototypes
I don’t put any stain on the temps on purpose. If they patient is happy with this it gives me an idea of the naturalness they want the final restorations.
If they give push back – I add the stain and then it tells me how picky they are. Which then determines which lab I send to.
