Ask the Dental Experts

Monday, December 28, 2009

How the CAD/CAM System Helps Us Make Cosmetic Tooth Restoration Materials

Making tooth restorations used to be a very complex and arduous process. Not only did dentists have to get the size of the restoration right, they also had to match the color of the restoration to that of the existing teeth surrounding it.

Now, when a tooth needs to be restored, Houston dentists can use the CAD/CAM system to aid in the procedure. The letters in “CAD/CAM” stand for “computer aided design” and computer aided manufacturing. This procedure is done in a CAD/CAM milling machine.

This machine is used to custom-design and to manufacture a number of cosmetic dental materials. These materials include tooth-colored restorations, dental crowns, dental onlays, dental inlays, and porcelain veneers.

Due to the precision of this sophisticated machine, CAD/CAM can produce some of the very best cosmetic dental solutions available to patients today.

There are several advantages to the CAD/CAM SYSTEM. These advantages include, but are not limited, to the following:

They are extremely accurate.
Most of the tooth’s structure is left intact because only a minimal amount of tooth preparation is necessary.
The colors of the restorations look identical to the color of teeth.

The CAD/CAM system involves a number of steps

Step One:
The area around the restoration is numbed in order to make you comfortable. A rubber dam is placed in your mouth to protect your throat from any dental debris that may be created while we work in your mouth.

Step Two:
Decay is removed and the tooth is shaped with a dental handpiece.

Step Three:
The dentist makes a mold of a tooth that will later be sent to a lab that has the CAD/CAM system in place.

Step Four:
The dentist sends this data to the lab where the CAD/CAM machine is located. At the lab, the optical, infrared camera of the CAD-CAM system reads the details of the molds and creates a virtual, digital image of the tooth. This image is identical to the dimensions of your natural tooth.

Step Five:
The lab will then place the specified material into the milling machine, The special software in the computer, along with the detailed image and tooth restoration material, will then be used to manufacture your cosmetic dental fitting.

Step Six:
The dentist will then choose the most appropriate restoration for your tooth. He or she will also match the color of that restoration to your existing natural teeth.

Step Seven:
When you return to the office, we will fit you with the new restoration. At this time, we will add any necessary custom coloring and bond the restoration in place with cement. We will check your bite and make any final adjustments, then polish the restoration to make it blend with the surrounding teeth.

Labels: CAD/CAM Milling Machine, CAD/CAM System, tooth restorations

Thursday, October 22, 2009

At the Cosmetic Dentistry Center of Houston, Dental Implants are Our Specialty and Passion

Dr. Charles Campbell is our leading expert in Houston dental implants. Dr. Campbell’s experience in restorative implant dentistry is some of the most impressive of any dental professional in the city of Houston. Since 1985, he has trained with one of the best implant dentists in the world, Dr. Hilt Tatum.

He has completed multiple, ongoing coursework at the Las Vegas Institute of Cosmetic Dentistry, and he has developed an extensive skill set in restorative treatment. Not only does Dr. Campbell offer to the people of Houston dental implants that can replace individual, missing teeth, but he has perfected the ability to utilize dental implants in full mouth reconstructions that can literally fill an empty mouth with what appears to be all natural tooth replacements.

Our when it comes to restorative services, our practice is somewhat unique in the city of Houston. Dental implants must be placed in the mouth in two phases. The first phase is known as the surgical phase, where the base of the implant is affixed to the jaw. The second phase is called the restorative phase, where a porcelain crown is placed over the base and actually functions as the visible tooth replacement.

Most cosmetic dental offices perform either the surgical phase of the procedure or the restorative phase. If the dentist performs the surgical phase, he or she then refers the patient to another dentist who will then affix the porcelain crown to the tooth root replacement.

The disadvantage here is that the patient has to see more than one dentist to receive proper care.

On the other hand, Dr. Campbell has made it a point to specialize in both phases of implant dentistry so that patients of the Cosmetic Dentistry Center of Houston can receive dental implants in a single location. This makes it easier for the patient in two respects. First, the patient usually feels more comfortable working with a single dentist that he or she has already become accustomed to. Secondly, dental insurance issues are much less complicated when there is only a single dentist involved.

Also, patients receive the very best aesthetic outcome when they come to the Cosmetic Dentistry Center of Houston. Dental implants here are carefully, custom-made to fit the mouth of the patient so that the new porcelain crowns look so much like the original, natural teeth that virtually no one can tell they are artificial. This allows a patient to do away with dentures once and for all. It also enables a person to begin eating a normal diet once again, because porcelain is such a hard substance that it can chew anything that natural teeth can handle.

Labels: cosmetic dental implants, houston dental implants, tooth restorations

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

CAD-CAM Technology Helps Labs Make More Accurate Tooth Restorations

CAD-CAM technology has made it easier and faster to repair problems with teeth, so there is no need any longer for people to procrastinate about seeking out restorative services when necessary. Whereas it used to take several dental appointments to make restorations such as inlays, onlays, bridges, and crowns, now they can all be fitted in two visits maximum. Dentists used to have to make models of teeth by making impressions of teeth and then sending them to a lab. The lab would then have to manually create the tooth restorations. With a CAD-CAM machine, however, a tooth-colored inlay, only, veneer, or crown can be made in record time.

CAD-CAM method involves a number of steps. The first of these steps is tooth preparation. As we noted earlier, dentists had to rely upon manual impressions and physical models to prepare teeth for cosmetic restoration. However, with CAD-CAM a special, precision optical camera is placed in the patient’s mouth. The camera records the exact dimensions of the teeth and sends this data back to the CAD-CAM computer.

The computer then uses this information to create a virtual model of the teeth for making the new tooth restorations. The dentist chooses the appropriate material for the restoration and selects a color that matches the texture and color of existing teeth. The material is then fed into a machine that fabricates the restoration using the information recorded by the CAD-CAM.

After the tooth restoration has been made, the dentist applies the appropriate color and bonds it to the teeth. The dentist then double checks the bite to make certain that the natural teeth and the new cosmetic teeth restorations are in alignment. If any adjustments are needed, they are made at this time.

At the Cosmetic Dentistry Center, we believe there is still great benefit to using a laboratory as part of our tooth restoration services. We take impressions of teeth here in our office, and then send them over to a lab that owns a CAD-CAM system. The mold actually imitates the natural teeth, and the precise optics of the CAD-CAM camera and the computer creates an even more accurate fabrication.

We find that this blend of tradition and new technology benefits our patients more than rushing to complete the process in the office in the same day. While it is necessary for patients to return to the office after the restorations have been made in the lab, it only takes one follow up visit for more accurate, more natural looking, and better-lasting results.

Labels: cad-cam, dental labs, tooth restorations