Abstract:

Background:
At NYUCD we introduce undergraduate students to the use of CAD/CAM technology for creating permanent restorations. Students are first acquainted with this methodology in their pre-clinical years in a simulation laboratory. Later, they use this knowledge when treating patients in the clinic. Recently, a new material became available that makes the procedures more efficient and more esthetically pleasing, in particular, IPS e.max blue block (Monolithic lithium disilicate). This material starts in a soft, machinable state, which is used to create a restoration through CAD/CAM methodology. The soft restoration is then tried on the prepared tooth and finely adjusted to fit. The restoration may then be custom colored. The final step to preparing the restoration is to heat it in a special oven, which crystallizes and strengthens the material, giving it its final hardness and smoothness. The new material and methodology combine the efficiency of the CAD/CAM technology that allows practitioners to create a permanent restoration in one appointment with the ability to custom fit and color the restoration.

Methods:
The preclinical student is taught to prepare a plastic tooth in an ideal way to receive a CAD/CAM restoration. Students are then taught to use the Cerec CAD/CAM system to evaluate their results and to become acquainted with machining premade blocks into a restoration. With the material in the soft, preprocessed state, students are taught to fine tune the fit on the cast. We then instruct them how to custom color the restoration and then to heat-treat it, preparing the restoration for final cementation.

Conclusion:
This procedure allows the student to learn the efficient CAD/CAM procedures and to combine them with the beauty of custom characterization of a restoration. All this is done in a single appointment, eliminating the time consuming and completely hands on procedures of a laboratory-prepared restoration.

Keywords:

CAD/CAM, Dental Education, New Technologies.