Adhesive dentistry has radically changed in restorative and prosthetic therapies in the last years.
Nowadays, aesthetic materials such as composites and glass reinforced porcelains perform well even in the long term, they allow us to do more conservative treatments and in the same time they offer magnificent esthetics.
Fig.1
A common situation observed in many patients, infiltration and fracture of old restorations, due to a bad technique or poor quality of the material chosen, these teeth for logical reasons have to be retreated.
Vital Teeth, even if they are rather compromised these days are treated successfully with adhesive partial restorations (inlay, onlay, overlays) eliminating the need of more comprehensive restorations such as complete crowns. Just like a veneer can improve the aesthetics of a smile with very conservative teeth preparations.
CAD-CAM technology in the present days is reliable and is used in dental offices and in dental laboratories, thanks to the new material generations is possible to project and produce complex rehabilitations with or without metal.
Fig.2
Material selection and cavity design is fundamental to the success of the future restorations. CAD-CAM technology allows us to take optical impressions, some times even with the rubber dam in place.
In some countries such as the United States and many in Europe chairside CAD-CAM has been widely used for more than a decade.
The great advantage of the chair-side procedures is the time saving for the clinician and for the patient. The actual technology allows us to do in one single appointment crowns, partial adhesive restorations, small bridges, temporary restorations and some prosthetics over implants.
Fig.3
CAD (Computer Asisted Design) is able to produce high quality restorations in a wide gamma of materials, and is able to predict and reproduce with a very high accuracy the occlusion, insertion pattern, the cement film thickness and a superb marginal fit. All of these improving as time passes, a clear sign of technology evolution.
This technological advances have change the life of many professional, but is not only the CAD-CAM that is changing the dental panorama. Digital radiology, modern photography, digital smile design, computer guided diagnosis and surgery, applied to the everyday dentistry have lead to mind-changing approaches in surgery, endodontics, orthodontics, implants and many other fields of dentistry.
With those and many more curiosities about a new era in dentistry, the Digital Dental Academy was founded in order to study and perfect the application of the latest technology in dentistry with state-of-the-art techniques.
With the same spirit, the first congress of the Digital Dental Academy will be held in Parma on March 28th and 29th, where dentists and technicians will have the opportunity to update in the various fields of the digital dental technology. Including not only CAD-CAM but dental radiology, digital smile design, orthodontics, surgery, endodontics and even how to integrate mobile devices to the every day practice.
Fig.4
With a simple personalization, the final aesthetics of the restorations and their integration are optimal. The main “so-called” disadvantage of the CAD-CAM restorations. is being overcome with better and better aesthetics.
