Do CEREC Crowns Work as Well As the Traditional Ones?

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I saw a dentist a few months ago for a checkup. I had one of those same days CEREC crowns placed a few years ago. During that checkup, the dentist told me that the crown wasn’t fitting well and needed to be replaced. She also told me that the posts, which were previously removed, should have been vibrated out and not been removed by drilling. I need a crown on a different tooth and have a couple of questions before moving forward. First, are the computer same day crowns as good as the old-fashioned ones? Second, did the drilling instead of vibration to remove posts damage the bone?

Kevin

Dear Kevin,

I’m actually going to start with your second question. While it is ideal to have the post removed by vibrations using an ultrasonic, it is not always possible. Removing them by drilling won’t damage your bone. In fact, drilling is done all the time in dental offices with no repercussions to bones. The real risk when you are drilling out posts lies in the drill slipping and perforating the side of the root as a result. This would mean the tooth would have to be extracted. It sounds like that was not a problem for the dentist who had to drill your posts out so I wouldn’t worry about it.

Now, about this crown. Same-day crowns actually have a better chance of fitting well than traditional crowns. This is because they are milled by a computer. I’m a bit concerned about your dentist simply saying “It’s not fitting well”. What do they mean by that? Did you come in complaining about the crown? If not, then what we look for when we are checking crowns are any gaps in the margins. If there were, that is what the dentist should have said instead of the generic terminology he or she used.

Dentists will use a tool called an explorer to search for any gaps in the crown. No gaps mean the crown is fine, unless you are having something like pain when you are biting. Gaps would signify a problem regardless.

If you weren’t experiencing any pain, I would recommend a second opinion before having that replaced. If you’ve already replaced it, then it is too late. As for this new crown, getting a CEREC crown is fine.

This blog is brought to you by Moline Dentist Dr. Goebel.