As owner of an independent dental office in Jamestown, North Carolina, J. Michael Puckett, DDS, invests in advanced technology to provide the highest level of care for his patients. Through his practice, J. Michael Puckett, DDS, offers his patients the convenience of same-day crowns.
A dental crown is a protective covering designed to fit over a natural tooth that has suffered damage due to trauma or decay. Traditionally, dental laboratories manufacture these coverings with the aid of impressions taken in the dental office.
Now, however, computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing technologies, colloquially known as CAD/CAM, enable dentists to create laboratory-quality crowns in-office. The preparatory process is the same as that for a traditional crown, in that the dentist must remove any decay in the natural tooth and shape its exterior so that it will fit inside the crown.
However, instead of submitting to an impression using dental putty, the CAD/CAM patient must simply receive a dusting of reflective powder on the teeth. The dentist then uses a specialized scanning tool, which creates a custom 3-D image on a screen. These images and related software enable the dentist to design a restoration, often in just a few minutes.
The customized design informs the crafting of the crown, a process that takes place inside a specialized milling chamber using a solid block of ceramic material. Once it is ready, the dentist can fit and bond it to the tooth.
The resultant crown is not only more convenient, in that the patient does not need to return to the office for fitting, but also is stronger and less prone to fracture than crowns made from more traditional materials.
