CAD Systems- Laboratory

In most industries, parts are constructed by computerized systems called CAD/CAM. Computer Aided Design/ Computer Aided Manufacturing. In dentistry, we still build most indirect restorations by hand, using age old, but accurate casting techniques, followed by artistic, handmade creations. In the majority of current restorative techniques an impression (negative) is made with an elastic material, a positive (model) is created and the restoration is created by waxing, casting, pressing, burnishing or directly building a restoration on that model. In many cases, there is an internal “casting” of either metal or a ceramic which is made first. This is strictly a mechanical exercise, and a perfect place for CAD/CAM to enter the process.

A 3D scanning device can read the model (or in some cases the impression) and if given the parameters (thickness, die space, margins, etc.) the CAM system can create this coping. Several systems are available to dental labs that can create these out of extraordinary hard and accurate materials of ceramic or metal equally accurate if not better than the hand made method. The fit of these has never been questioned- the durability of the materials in some situations had been overstated. The current generation of materials allows the lab to get a perfect, durable coping every time, assuming the impression is accurate. (There are new systems available for direct scanning of the patient, but the current versions are attached to the in-office CAD machines with some newer technologies waiting in the wings.) The systems are quite expensive and many smaller labs cannot justify the costs, although these machines could operate for hours on end, producing many restorations with minimal labor costs. The practitioner can benefit by receiving consistent, durable restorations with a faster turnaround time. The patient wins by getting a state of the art restoration with some new cosmetic advantages.

Some of the units process only the copings requiring a technician to build the external anatomy. Other systems construct the final product carved out of various blocks of ceramics, composites and metals.

Zirconium

Procera

LAVA

Everest

Dentsply CERCON

CEREC In LAB