CEREC Crowns in Northport, NY

Crowns are full coverage restorations for damaged teeth. They are designed to completely encase the biting surface of a tooth, providing support and protection.

At Northport Family Dental, we use crowns to restore function when a tooth has broken or is lacking adequate remaining tooth structure. Teeth that have had a root canal, especially toward the back of the mouth, often require full coverage to prevent fracture.

New patients often have two concerns when we discuss the need for a crown. The first is that they see people who have crowns and they don’t like the noticeable black line visible by the gum. The second concern is that they are worried that when all the work is completed, they'll experience the same disappointing results as a friend of their's who has crowns that looks fake and obvious.

The good news is that both these are issues that are avoidable. Most of the crowns placed at Northport Family Dental are milled from a solid block of porcelain utilizing our CEREC technology – no more unattractive black line!

CEREC is CAD/CAM for dentistry. CEREC stands for Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics, a complicated-sounding term for the fabrication of a dental restoration from a computer-aided design. In 2001, Dr. Rubin made the decision to embrace and invest in this technology. As an early adopter, when he took delivery of his system, it was one of only seven units in all of Suffolk, Queens, and Brooklyn. The flexibility of design, along with advances in materials, directly benefits our patients, improving their dental health and their lives.

The CEREC Process at Northport Family Dental

We start the process by preparing the tooth to be treated, then scanning it with a specialized camera. The pre-existing shape of the tooth we are treating tells us a lot about how your teeth function and whether you clench and/or grind your teeth. It is highly desirable to take this into account when designing your new tooth. Utilizing CEREC enables us to do just that and make modifications to improve how your new tooth will function. Muscle memory generates a habitual path that your teeth and jaw follow. When we can closely duplicate this movement, your new tooth will be comfortable and feel more like a natural part of your mouth. 

Using the information gathered during the scanning process, the restoration is designed at the chair and milled right here in our Northport Family Dental office. These ceramics are translucent like your natural enamel and exhibit a significant chameleon effect. In essence, once bonded, they tend to disappear into the tooth because they blend so well. Unless there is a specific request to use gold, your partial crown (onlay) will be ceramic. 

The greatest benefit of using CEREC is that we can bond the final restoration during the same visit. You don’t have to wear a temporary or return for a second visit. In fact, the convenience of this system is so popular that quite a few of our patients come to us from out of state, making the use of one-visit restorations especially productive. 

We know that we’ve hit the mark when we hand the mirror over for approval prior to placement and hear, “Which one is it?” 

CEREC Partial Crowns in Northport, NY

A partial crown (or onlay) is utilized when a significant portion of the tooth has broken, but sufficient functional healthy tooth remains. CEREC is used to design and mill a replacement “puzzle piece” of ceramic, restoring the tooth to contour and function. The ceramic is conditioned and bonded into the remaining tooth structure. This process of bonding the restoration actually strengthens the original tooth.

Please Give Our Dental Office a Call to Learn More

At Northport Family Dental, Dr. Rubin and Dr. Quinn are proud to offer innovative solutions like CEREC crowns that restore function and do it beautifully – all in just one visit! Please give us a call today to learn more about the benefit of CEREC crowns.