Steven Hernandez Nothing fancy here. Typical case. Pt appointed for #2, #3, #15 direct resins and #5 crown. We scheduled 2 hrs and finished ahead of time; just over 1:30 (#5 Empress polish only; no oven time). I hope the following tips help you leverage your CEREC and complete more treatment in the same amount of time.
1. Anesthesia of upper right quad only. Next capture pre-op images of arch as I wanted to copy the B cusp of #5. Also image opposing arch.
2. Teeth #2,3 & 5 prepared. *Note that I did not spend time restoring the molars. As soon as the images were captured and we advanced to the model screen, anesthesia was delivered for #15.
3. You can use pre-op images to check your reduction if you're not using reduction burs or bite tabs.
4. Copy line of #5 that avoids the DO resin, hole in the occlusal surface & abfraction.
5. Initial proposal.
6. Overlaying images of pre-op and CEREC proposal.
7. Final design of #5 with unrestored #2,3.
TIPS:
*While the CEREC was moving from AQUISITION to MODEL phase, anesthesia was delivered for #15. No 'downtime' waiting for CEREC to process models.
*While #5 was milling, #2, 3 were restored and #15 was prepared for a direct resin (OL).
*Leaving #2,3 unrestored during imaging of #5 allowed me to disregard them when designing occlusal contact strength of #5 crown.
*After restoring the molars, I could adjust the occlusion of #2,3 while #5 was milling. Without the crown in place, I could disregard occlusion of #5 prep as there was none.
*After delivering #5 and cleaning the area, #15 was restored. As the upper right had already been restored/contacts adjusted and polished, I only had to concentrate on #15 when adjusting the composite.
Again, this isn't 'sexy,' just everyday bread and butter dentistry. My hope is that you'll find all the little areas of 'downtime' during a crown appt and find that there is plenty of time to complete other dentistry and make the appointment more productive while not increasing chair time.
