CEREC® Crowns and Bridges

CEREC is a chairside system that uses a digital scanner to capture a 3D image of your prepared tooth, then designs and mills a custom ceramic crown in-office using computer-aided design and an on-site milling unit - eliminating the physical impression and outside dental laboratory that traditional crowns require.

After preparing the tooth, we take a digital scan instead of a traditional impression, design the crown on-screen while you wait, and mill it from a solid ceramic block on-site - typically 15 to 20 minutes. The crown is then stained, glazed, fired, polished and permanently bonded, all in one appointment.

A filling is appropriate for smaller areas of decay where enough healthy tooth structure remains to support the tooth on its own. A crown is needed when decay or a crack is extensive enough that a filling would leave too little natural structure remaining, risking fracture under normal chewing force.

Yes. CEREC crowns are milled from the same high-strength ceramic materials used in traditional lab-fabricated crowns, and multiple long-term studies show comparable survival rates between the two. The manufacturing method differs, but the resulting material strength is equivalent.

Most cases qualify, but a few situations still benefit from a traditional lab-fabricated crown, including teeth needing very precise shade-matching for a highly visible front tooth, multiple adjacent crowns, or gum tissue needing more time to heal before an accurate scan can be taken.