If you are a suitable candidate for a CEREC instant crown, you are more than welcome to watch your own crown being milled in our clinic! Our staff are happy to show off and let you be entertained by this piece of machinery. Sure beats watching fish swim about…

Click here to watch.

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Lost a tooth? A new 3D-printed replacement might protect against future cavities. Published earlier this month by researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, “3D-Printable Antimicrobial Composite Resins” details a tooth made from materials that kill bacteria on contact.

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Thanks to research and technology, bone regeneration for implant dentistry is a usual and routine procedure in oral surgery.

Understanding the principles of wound healing now allows for regeneration of bone to occur using a variety of techniques. Most include cutting through the gum to expose the bone and then augmenting the existing (insufficient) bone by adding bone grafting materials to it. Hence the name “bone grafting”.

Grafting materials include your own bone (sourced from a secondary site), cadaver bone, bovine bone, or synthetic bone. All of these grafting materials have been processed so that they are inert and certified safe for human use. Your body will then grow its own bone around the graft, eventually replacing volume.

Healing of the grafted material can be enhanced by using membranes which cover the grafts to promote and enhance healing.

See more about how we do our bone grafts here.

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The real problem with tooth loss isn’t just aesthetics, it’s the subsequent bone loss. The alveolar bone, which surrounds the teeth, requires regular stimulation (piezoelectric effect – tiny stresses transmitted via the tooth) in order to stay healthy. Without such stimulation the bone will gradually be lost. It is a process of the body to take bone from where it’s not ‘needed’ to where it is needed. Studies have proven that a lost tooth can result in a 25% decrease in bone width in the first year alone, and will continue to decrease in subsequent years.

As bone loses width and height, gum tissue also gradually decreases. Ability to chew and to speak can be impaired. The more teeth lost, the more function is lost.
Bite collapse can occur when only some of the back teeth, which support the height of the face, are missing. This can cause the front teeth to be more stressed, squashed or pushed forward. Severe bone loss will also result in uncomfortable dentures or the inability to wear one at all.

Fortunately, there is way to keep tooth loss from becoming bone loss: It’s the dental implant. Because the implant actually becomes fused to the living bone, it will continue to stimulate the bone and prevent loss.

Molars, in fact, are usually the first teeth to be lost. Dealing with that first missing molar will help maintain the integrity of the jaw and the structures they support.

Read here for an in-depth discussion on the benefits of dental implants and facial collapse.

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She had a problematic canine which required a root canal and a crown. CEREC technology allowed this procedure to be done in minimal time, and in one single procedure. (Come on, which lion really wants to go back for that second appointment?) Importantly, it saved her from having a second round of anaesthesia – had it have been a conventional two-visit restoration.

Our patients too, can benefit from this technology here and now. Instead of waiting for 1-3 weeks for a new tooth to be created by the dental lab, patients can have their new tooth in one visit, one procedure.

CEREC is “Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics”, or “CEramic REConstruction”, using CAD/CAM (computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing) technology.

For those who don’t like injections, CEREC technology is ideal. Patients can have the procedure carried out in one session so there is only the need to have one set of injections, if at all.

And hands up to those who like impression material? The gaggy expanding-foam-no-more-gaps type substance which comes in an oversized horseshoe-like tray. Be gone! 3-D scanners, like our dentists, are good-looking, slim, quick, precise and very safe.

CEREC technology also takes the control of the tooth creation away from the lab, who never sees the patient, and enables the dentist to create the tooth making any minor adjustments without having to send the tooth back and forth to the lab. The 3D scanner maps the whole surrounding including opposing teeth for a precise bite. Those with most of the original but compromised tooth can have it “copied” precisely.

A major bonus is that there is no need for the dentist to make, place and adjust a temporary crown while waiting for a dental lab to create the final tooth. Milling is done by a separate unit to the scanner, and takes around 10mins for a relatively simple crown. Colour is matched and applied onsite to closely resemble surrounding teeth.

To read the article and view the footage of Naomi having her tooth restored click here.

Of course, as each case is unique, there are some instances where CEREC would not be the best option. There is never a one-size-fits-all situation, so patients should always question which method is best for them and why.

There are increasing applications for CAD/CAM technology then ever before, and we are proud to say that we are, and will be, on top of these advances.

A new set of fangs (for Halloween perhaps), anybody?

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Though most of us would like or need them out at some stage, there is something special about them. The dental pulp of wisdom teeth contain stem cells which researchers claim can be used to make neural, bone and other cells.

The post Stem cells in wisdom teeth appeared first on South Steet Dental.

CEREC uses CAD-CAM technology. What does CAD-CAM stand for? Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing, technology developed by W. Mörmann and M. Brandestini at the University of Zurich in 1980.

That gagging caused by impression material no longer needs to be endured when CAD-CAM is  used. The digital mapping technology of CEREC charts the inside of the patient’s mouth completely accurately and down to the last detail ensures that there is no issues, unlike the conventional and comparatively less accurate dental impression. This technology reduces the amount of follow-up work and time-intensive occlusion adjustment that was often necessary in the past. Not to mention there is no longer a need for temporary crowns when the final product is being milled onsite!

Of course, as with everything, some cases may be the exception to the rule. A bridge with many units, for example, will be better made in an external laboratory (Australian of course!).

Some case studies from the CEREC website may be found here.

You want a crown to be milled into a shape of a teddybear? It can be done! (But we won’t do it)

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Now there may be a convenient treatment for snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea. An Australian invention offers patients a custom 3D printed titanium mouthguard that assist airflow past the sleep apnoea sufferer’s soft palate, avoiding obstructions from the nose and tongue.

People who have trialed the device have reported positive life-changing results. It is also compact, comfortable and more convenient than current treatments on the market.

A recent article by Nicholas Kachel from CSIRO news gives an insight into the technology behind the Oventus clearway device.

Read the full post here.

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