The greatest goal any dentist wants to achieve is to fix broken down teeth with materials that are not only strong and natural, but also as close to the properties of real tooth as possible. However, this treatment goal isn’t always easy to achieve because teeth are exposed to extreme temperatures, assets, hard seeds/food – Plus tremendous pressure from eating and clenching.
Current dental materials have failed and terms of strength, marginal fit accuracy and longevity, and this has resulted in fillings needed to be replaced due to wear and breakdown. Failures in crowns and bridges more often occur due to inaccurate or open margins, where the crown or bridge meets against the real tooth. This allows saliva to penetrate with bacteria causing recurrent decay. In both cases, the result is failure of prosthesis because it hadn’t lasted as long as original tooth.
Cause and Effect
When and impression is taken in the mouth, there is inherent distortion that causes in accuracy. When the goopy material sets there is measurable distortion because it goes from gel phase to a more solid phase and shrinks slightly in the transition. When the impression is removed from the mouth, it also distort slightly due to the undercuts present and teeth, and locks into spaces between the teeth which pool and stretch the impression material as it is removed. The result? More distortion.
Unless the impression is poured up with model stone immediately, temperature and evaporation causes additional changes in the impression, leading to yet more distortion. Lastly, the powder: water ratio used when making a model must be precise. Otherwise, there will be further measurable distortion.
All of this occurs before the crown, Bridge or denture is even made! In fact, distortion could account for between 0.3 to 0.4mm of accuracy.
Goop and Distortion – All in the Past
The arrival of digital dentistry has changed all that by eliminating the different levels of distortion present in the goopy impression – taking technique. In other words, there is no goop! Lasers and a handheld one take a digital picture of the tooth preparation, and because laser light travels in straight lines, there is no distortion. The resulting impression is accurate to 0.001 mm – that’s 1000th of a millimeter.
Same Day Service – with a Smile
In our Smiles On Seven Dental Centre in Markham, we take at digital image and build a crown, small bridge or veneer by milling it on-site in under two hours. The resulting milled eMax Crown or bridge is natural tooth coloured ceramic that is essentially as strong as steel. It’s strength and fit is superior – which means it will last longer than any goopy impression used to fabricate a crown, bridge or inlay/onlay. You leave with the permanent restoration in your mouth at the same appointment.
Yes the future of dentistry has arrived – three digital dentistry.
