18
|
cerecdoctors.com
|
quarter 4
|
2012
imaging but it wasn’t enough to tip the scales for every clini-
cian to say, “Hey, this is something I can dowith ease.”
The strength of theOmnicam is that it allows for imaging
of quadrants, half arches and full arches with ease and,
with streaming capture and full color. The clinician simply
has to wave the camera over the teeth to capture the areas
to be recorded. Frankly, users new to in-office CAD/CAM
will wonder why it was done any other way — not real-
izing the amount of research-and-development dollars
that were invested to create the Omnicam.
With the Omnicam, we can do multiple restorations,
but without resorting to the software manipulations and
tricks of the past. Simply image the area that you want, and
restore that area using the 4.0 software.
Treatingmultiple anterior teethwith theCEREC 1might
have been similar to trying to win the Tour de France on a
tricycle. With the Omnicam, it has now become a breeze.
Wave the camera, image your pre-op wax-up, image your
preps and have the software copy the wax-up. It is simple
and certainly within the capabilities of a clinician to tackle
multiple restorations without headache.
Certainly, the material limitations of the past have also
been lifted. We currently have the ability to mill feld-
spathic porcelain, leucite reinforced, resin and lithium
disilicate, as well as bisacryl materials.
This leads to the question of what role will the CEREC
have now? And, more specifically, what role will the
Omnicam play in the smile-design process? We have the
materials and the software to create provisional resto-
rations. Anything that can fit into a 55 mm block can be
milled with ease. Simply design the restorations and mill
with the material of your choice. This can be used to
create long-term provisional restorations that are now
milled chairside and offer strength higher than traditional
bisacryl restorations.
But what about the milling of esthetic mock-ups for
esthetic cases? No doubt if provisional restorations can be
milled, thenwhy notmock-ups?With the increased imaging
ability of the Omnicam, capturing full-arch virtual models
will lead to an increased use of the system for additional
chairside applications. Mock-ups, esthetic temporaries,
splits-to-open vertical dimensions are all future possibilities
now that we have imaging without restrictions.
Imagine being able to capture not only the teeth, pre-op
wax-up and preps, but use the Omnicam to capture the
extra oral structures that will help you design the resto-
rations. Or imagine capturing the lip position to see if the
restorations that you have designed actually fit in the arch-
form and look good in the patient’s mouth.
TheOmnicamcouldpotentiallybeusedas adiagnostic tool
instead of just a restorative tool. Because the systemcaptures
and creates the models in full color, this might mean that for
new-patient exams, instead of impressions with alginate, we
now capture intraoral scans on new patients, giving us the
ability to not only diagnose a whole host of issues but also
collaborate with our specialist colleagues to share the data
and arrive at a comprehensive treatment plan. Patients and
clinicians are able to review intraoral findings in full color
that mimic the situation as it appears exactly in the mouth.
Instead of doing digital imagingwith specialized software for
anterior restorations, perhaps the softwarewill have features
that will allowusers to perform those tasks natively.
The evolution of in-office CAD/CAM has been tremen-
dous. Yes, it’s taken close to three decades to come to a point
where one doesn’t have to wonder how CAD/CAM works
—
we just
know
that it works. Fromever-increasing capabili-
ties, we know that from inlays, onlays, crowns, abutments,
bridges, veneers and many more indications, the system
works and it works well. The only question left to answer
now is does in office CAD/CAMwork for
your
office?
Fig. 13: The Omnicam is used to scan
intraoral and extraoral structures,
allowing the clinician to analyze the
patient’s esthetic needs.
Fig. 14: A full-arch intraoral scan of the
patient’s dentition in occlusion.
Fig. 15: A full-lower-arch scan. This
information can potentially be used
for diagnostic and patient education
purposes.
Fig. 16: Upper-arch scan data that can
potentially be used by the orthodontic
community to diagnose spatial
arrangement needs.
13
14
15
16
| | |
p u r i