Digitally CAD/CAM dentistry

The Dental Industry for Improved Dental Lab Products and Services

Digital CAD CAM Technology in the dental industry has been evolving and improving dental procedures and products immensely for over 30 years, but now more than ever it’s becoming more widely utilized. Currently, the term Digital Dentistry has been coined to represent this digital revolution in the dental industry. Due to the incorporation of digital technologies in the manufacturing process of dental products, dental labs and practices are able to see a variety of benefits that improve dental products and the experience of not only the patient but also the dental practice and lab as well.

3D Printing Application

CAD/CAM Digital Systems has dramatically increased the efficiency of dental production in the dental industry, making it the ideal option for designing and manufacturing prosthetics. By virtually designing and milling the dental prosthetic, our team of certified dental technicians are able to consistently produce a more natural looking and longer-lasting restoration while saving costs in labor and materials. CAD/CAM technology and metal-free materials are being used to create highly esthetic, durable and functional ceramic crowns, veneers, onlays, inlays, bridges, and dentures. CAD/CAM Dental is also used to fabricate custom abutments for dental implants, which is very important for stabilizing and integrating the prosthetic within the jawbone for long-term biocompatibility. Today’s CAD/CAM restorations are more resilient, better fitting and more natural looking (multihued and translucent, similar to natural teeth) than previously machined restorations. We support all major CAD/CAM digital scanners including CEREC Connect, 3 SHAPE, iTERO, 3M ESPE, Carestream and more.Sunflower dental lab has a complete digital team with 30 professional designers, typesetting, design, printing and more. Our printer milling framework, custom abutment, implant bar and more. Just scan and send us your digital files and we can start printing a model in minutes!

Digital Impression System

Digital Printed Model

Digital Custom Abutments

Advantages and Drawbacks

CAD/CAM has improved the quality of prostheses in dentistry and found a way to standardise the production process. It has increased productivity and the chance to work with new materials with a high level of accuracy. It has also found a way to decrease chair time for the patient by the use of intra-oral scanning systems which allow the dentist to send electronic impressions to the lab. The restorations are milled from a block of ceramic which has fewer flaws.

Despite the CAD/CAM being a major technological advancement, it is important that the dentists’ technique is suited to the methods of CAD/CAM and milling technology. This includes: correct tooth preparations with a continuous preparation margin; avoiding the use of shoulderless preparations and parallel walls and the use of rounded incisor and occlusal edges to prevent the concentration of tension.

However, CAD/CAM requires a large initial outlay (expensive to buy) and occlusal detail isn’t always the best and has to be amended by hand. Most doctors that utilize the chair side technology find the level of detail to be more than adequate in a clinical setting.
Depending on the material chosen, CAD/CAM treatments may have some aesthetic drawbacks, whether they are created at the dental practice or outsourced to a dental laboratory fabricating service. Depending on the dentist or technician, CAD/CAM restorations can be layered to give a deeper more natural look. Just like traditional restorations, CAD/CAM restorations also vary in aesthetic value, many are monochrome. In some hand-layered crowns and bridges, feldspathic porcelain is fused to glass-infiltrated aluminum oxide (alumina) or zirconium-oxide (zirconia) creating a high-strength, highly aesthetic, metal-free crown or bridge. In other traditional restorations, this porcelain is layered onto a metal substructure and often display colour brightness, an opaque “headlight”, and dark oxide lines (a “black line” in the vicinity of the gum line). As these dark metal substructures are not conducive to a natural appearance, metal-free restorations are typically more aesthetically pleasing to the patient.

There are also different medical repercussions for each restorative technique. If the CAD/CAM restorative material is zirconia, the restoration becomes “radio-opaque”, just as metal restorations are, blocking x-rays. Only alumina, lithium disilicatematerials are “radio-lucent”, allowing dentists to track potential decay. Zirconia, conventional porcelain-to-metal, and traditional gold and other all-metal crowns block x-ray radiation, disallowing evaluation over time. Therefore, doctors have to examine restorations visually and with a dental explorer to diagnose decay.

Digital scanning is faster and more convenient than traditional scanning

Intraoral scan mode

Impression scan mode