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Trends in Dentistry | DPR Survey Exclusive 
 

CAD/CAM Can Do



CAD/CAM chairside and lab usage is rising, and now GPs are getting more involved in the design process through advances in software and technology.
 
By Stan Goff
 
Chairside ownership
 
Do you own/use a chairside CAD/CAM restoration fabrication system?

Yes 10%
No 90%

Source: April 2008 DPR CAD/CAM Survey

Even if you’re not one of the close to 10% of general practitioners using a chairside CAD/CAM restoration fabrication system in your practice, chances are you still are involved in some facet of the technology. Chances are also pretty good that you may become even more involved in the near future, whether it’s by working with a chairside unit of your own, sending out cases to labs that will handle the CAD/CAM milling for you, or getting involved in digital impression taking—a relatively new technology that is expected to have a major impact on how cases are designed and fabricated both in-office and at labs.

Sirona Dental Systems President Michael Augins has watched his company’s CEREC line of CAD/CAM products develop over the years and believes the time has come for this technology to become the standard of care in dentistry. Enhancements in software, materials and techniques have enabled chairside CAD/CAM restorations to become easier to deliver. The results have improved dramatically, rivaling the best manually produced restorations. Patient benefits, including single-visit restorations, have helped garner interest and stimulate demand for CAD/CAM.

“We believe that in the near future, nearly every dentist will be placing CAD/CAM restorations either fabricated chairside in the office, or done via a CAD/CAM system in a lab,” said Augins, whose company first brought CAD/CAM into dental offices in 1985 with the original CEREC unit. “In the end, because of its extraordinary patient benefits and superior economics, we think that chairside CAD/CAM dentistry will be part of most practices.”

 

Can your lab CAD/CAM?

Do any of the laboratories you work with for indirect restorations use CAD/CAM fabrication systems?

Yes 69%
No 11%
Don’t know 29%

Source: April 2008 DPR CAD/CAM Survey

  

Our latest survey (see “About this DPR survey,” page 62) backs Augins up. Thirty-eight percent of responding GPs said they think CAD/CAM use will become mainstream while they are still actively practicing dentistry, and 44% are very interested in the chairside technology but consider cost a roadblock. It is cost that may be a big reason why just 10% of the respondents currently have a chairside CAD/CAM system (see “Chairside ownership,” above).

But digital impression taking systems and more accessibility to chairside scanners that can digitize impressions may open the door for more GPs to get involved in the technology. In this article, Augins is joined by Zahn Dental Marketing Manager Stan Maragos; 3M ESPE National Manager for Key Accounts, Digital Restorative Dentistry Jim Buchanan; and Ole Mathiesen, CDT, and president of Valley Dental Arts, in taking a look at recent developments in CAD/CAM technology as well as taking a peak at the future.

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