Had one of these done at the OHSU Dental School this afternoon. My dental student had already done 6 or 7 of them, so I was in good hands. This technology has some prospect of making dental care more affordable. My cost was $562. It’s more than double that at private dentists in town.
DIY enthusiasts can get the whole rig (scanner, 4 - burr mill, and kiln) on e-Bay for $99,000.
The professor was telling me that coming to the dental school 3 afternoons/week to supervise the student clinic was the best part of his practice now that we have new toys to play with.
My first crown about two months ago cost $1500 roughly and another $350 in an office visit to prep the tooth. The dentist used that sort of camera computer setup. Very cool.
Aah CEREC crowns…the love of my life when I was still in practice. Back then in Olden Tymes the technology was still relatively new and offered by a handful of labs locally (metro NY area so not exactly the boonies) Crown prep techniques much the same as “traditional” porcelain to metal core…just a little more aggressive prep to compensate for thickness of material, but a wonderful end result.
Back then, though, the start to finish time was much longer. Traditional impression made in the office with lab pickup and pour as usual. Then that zirconia core was fabricated in one of no more than a handful of centers nationwide, returned to local lab for porcelain to be “stacked” the usual way and then back to me and happy patient. Refined even further now, of course.
I’ve had to give dh a mini tutorial on this technology just this past week as he is in the process of getting one of these beauties. His first. I only took the trouble to break down the process for him because he made the mistake of thinking such speedy technology should make crowns cheaper. Full disclosure…he didn’t have much clue about the overheads in a dental practice back then, so he surely doesn’t nowadays.
This crown of his wasn’t a molar (and therefore unlikely to be visible) otherwise I would’ve made sure he was getting a gold crown simply for the less aggressive prep requirements. I wonder if today’s dental grads have even had the opportunity to do much gold work as students. I know our dentist…who isn’t that young…did very little beyond crowns and a couple of inlays
My prior dentist was great. He even signed off as a professional that I is who I say I am to get Irish citizenship. Vouched for me.
But he sold his business to a couple both of whom are dentists. Neither of them work on crowns. Their prices are through the roof. I decided not to pay off their debts, and left.
My current dentist is a very capable woman who charges $450 per year for two office visits, two cleanings, and one set of X-rays. In that package, she offers 15% off on many other procedures. She did a wonderful job with my crown. Definitely over engineered with a little more thickness for it. I could see the photos of the stubby little tooth underneath. She and her husband own the two modern buildings the dental practice is housed in. She can afford to keep the pricing reasonable and create a continuum of care in the pricing. Very ethical.
