State of the Art of CAD / CAM Restorations

CEREC s high technology allows the dentist to restore a tooth with ceramic materials in a single visit. CEREC has emerged as a typical technology of our time. Dental practitioners and laboratory technicians are fascinated by CEREC technology and use it to fabricate dental restorations from natural-looking, esthetic ceramics for single-tooth restorations and with high-strength ceramics for multi-tooth restorations. Patients like the idea of having their teeth restored with CAD/CAM ceramics because the biocompatibility and durability of these materials is similar to that of natural teeth. With CEREC s high-tech opto-electronics, the target tooth can be scanned in fractions of a second, either intra-orally by the dentist or extra-orally in the dental laboratory (1). The computer generates a 3D digital model on the monitor (2), and the dentist/technician designs the restoration using the computer-aided design (CAD) software and anatomic database information (3). The computer controls a dental precision form-grinding computer-aided machining (CAM) unit and fabricates the individual restoration in 10-20 minutes (4). The dentist places the restoration using a dental bonding technique (5). At the CEREC 20th Anniversary Symposium in Berlin, Germany, held March 17-18, 2006, keynote researchers and clinicians from universities and private practices as well as laboratory technicians from all over the world reported and discussed their experiences with CEREC CAD/CAM. This book presenting their contributions is a must for everyone concerned with restorative dentistry.