Mike Skramstad One question I get very often from people is, "How do I design my preps for CEREC restorations?” When I hear this question, my mind immediately goes back to dental school – how we are programmed to think a certain way... an onlay looks like this, a crown looks like this, etc...
I completely understand this line of thinking, because I was once there myself. Every full-coverage crown was similar in design. Maybe you prepped a deep chamfer or maybe a shoulder with a bevel. Whatever your design of choice, you most likely went into that procedure with a plan in place on how you were going to prep that tooth.
One of the great pleasures of practicing same day CAD/CAM dentistry is throwing that philosophy completely out the window. CEREC allows me to be creative on how I approach a situation. I never have a set prep in mind.
I now approach a tooth in a much different way. I start by removing the restorative material and any existing decay, and then I just let the prep "come to me." Every prep is different, just like every tooth is different. Not only can this often be better and more conservative for the patient, but this creative mindset is also much more fun for a dentist.
Take a look at this case and visualize how you would prep this case. There are no right or wrong answers, and many dentist would prep it differently. I will show you how I prepped it. How would you prep it? Feel free to join in on our discussion on this topic here: http://www.cerecdoctors.com/discussion-boards/view/id/8179/page/1
