Teaching Students to Fabricate Multiple Adjacent Ceramic Restorations Utilizing Virtual Restorations in One Sitting Using CAD/CAM Software

Objective The dental student will learn quadrant dentistry using digital scanning and software to produce adjacent ceramic restorations in one session. Introduction Digital Technology has secured its place in Dentistry for some time now. The advent of the CEREC® system has allowed the operator to create ceramic crowns, inlays and onlays in a single visit. It is our obligation as dental educators to bring our students to the forefront of this technology. When multiple restorations are planned, it is beneficial to obtain a virtual model to fabricate multiple restorations in one sitting. The restorations can be planned using CEREC® software with adjacent virtual restorations before they are fabricated. This technique allows all restorations to be fabricated without seeing the patient for subsequent scans. Methods: A digital impression is taken of either the intra-oral preparation or a stone cast of the preparations to create a virtual model. When there are multiple preparations previous software versions required one restoration be completed before the second preparation could be scanned. The latest software is now capable of creating both from the same scan. A virtual biogeneric restoration is produced by the CEREC® software and it is no longer necessary to go back to the patient for additional scans or impressions. Conclusion: Showing students how digital technology can be an efficient and accurate way to produce a quadrant of restorations. This technique opens the door for acceptance of the digital future of Dentistry.