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Digital dentistry: an overviewof recent developments for CAD/CAM generated restorations
IN BRIEF
CAD/CAM technology is widely available, but little is known about it by the general dental practitioner.
This article informs the practitioner about recent developments in the eld of digital dentistry.
Information outlined in this article could aid the cost-effective production of dental prostheses.
PRACTICE
F. Beuer,1 J. Schweiger2 and D. Edelhoff3 VERIFIABLE CPD PAPER
As in many other industries, production stages are increasingly becoming automated in dental technology. As the priceof dental laboratory work has become a major factor in treatment planning and therapy, automation could enable more competitive production in high-wage areas like Western Europe and the USA. Advances in computer technology now enable cost-effective production of individual pieces. Dental restorations produced with computer assistance have become more common in recent years. Most dental companies have access to CAD/CAM procedures, either in the dental practice, the dental laboratory or in the form of production centres. The many benets associated with CAD/CAM generated dental restorations include: the access to new, almost defect-free, industrially prefabricated and controlled materials; an increase in quality and reproducibility and also data storage commensurate with a standardised chain of production; an improvement in precision and planning, as well as an increase in efciency. As a result of continual developments in computer hardware and software, new methods of production and new treatment concepts are to be expected, which will enable an additional reduction in costs. Dentists, who will be confronted with these techniques in the future, require certain basic knowledge if they are to benet from these new procedures. This article gives an overview of CAD/CAM-technologies and systems available for dentistry today.
1. DEFINITION
The term CAD/CAM in dental technology is currently used as a synonym for prostheses produced by milling technology. This is not entirely correct. CAD is the abbreviation for computer-aided design and CAM stands for computeraided manufacturing. The term CAD/ CAM does not provide any information on the method of fabrication.
All CAD/CAM systems consist of three components: 1. A digitalisation tool/scanner that transforms geometry into digital data that can be processed bythe computer
situations. This saves time and offers the patient indirectly fabricated restorations at one appointment. At present, only the Cerec System (Sirona) offers this...