Same-Day Restorations

It is a repair to a damaged tooth that is completed at one appointment instead of two or more. At The Smile Galleries that means crowns, inlays and onlays, veneers and bridges, finished in a single visit, on the same technology stack that drives the complex cases: T-Scan to measure the bite, and CEREC to design and mill the restoration in the practice. The technology speeds the work up. The diagnosis still comes first.

CEREC is a CAD/CAM system, meaning the crown is designed on a computer and cut by a machine. Your tooth is prepared and scanned with a small camera instead of a tray of impression putty. Dr. Patel designs the crown himself, it is milled from a solid ceramic block in the office, then fitted and adjusted to your bite. Dr. Patel has worked with CEREC since its early two-dimensional era, taught for the company and wrote one of the first articles on it.

Not when the crown is made the same day. A temporary exists to cover the tooth while a lab makes the final crown over the following weeks, and it can loosen or break in the meantime. When the crown is designed and milled in the practice, it is placed at the same visit, so there is no temporary to wear, no second trip and no second round of numbing.

A crown lasts when it fits precisely and meets the bite evenly, however it was made. That is why the bite is measured before the design starts, and why the fit is checked before you leave. Same-day is not the right choice for every tooth. When a tooth or a larger case is better served another way, Dr. Patel will explain why, with your scans and measurements in front of you, before anything is done.

No. It depends on how much of the tooth remains, whether the nerve is involved, how the bite loads that tooth, and whether it is part of a larger plan for the whole mouth. Speed that skips diagnosis only brings problems to the surface sooner, a lesson Dr. Patel learned early in his CEREC work. The exam and the measurements decide, not the calendar. If one visit is not appropriate, you will know that, and the reason, before treatment begins.

An inlay fills a cavity inside the biting surface of a tooth. An onlay also covers one or more of the cusps, the raised points of the tooth. A crown covers the whole tooth. The practice’s rule is the least invasive option that gives a predictable result, so when an onlay will do, healthy tooth structure is kept rather than trimmed away for a crown. When the tooth is too weak for that, a crown protects what remains.

Often, yes, but a root canal is not a CEREC restoration. It is planned on a 3D cone beam CT scan, and Dr. Patel uses the laser to clean the canals on every root canal. It removes the infected or inflamed nerve tissue, cleans and seals the canal, and keeps your natural tooth. Whether yours can be treated in one visit depends on the infection and the tooth itself, and that is decided at the exam. If the tooth then needs a crown, that part can often be finished the same day.

Because a restoration that sits even slightly high takes force it was never designed for, and so do the tooth, the opposing teeth and the jaw muscles. T-Scan records where and how hard the teeth meet, and in what sequence, instead of relying on carbon-paper marks. You see the map on screen, too. The practice has applied 86,779 T-Scan bite analyses, and the bite is balanced before a restoration is designed.

There is no honest single number, because longevity depends on the fit, the material, your bite and habits such as clenching or grinding. What the practice controls is measured: the fit is checked, the bite is balanced, and if grinding is part of the picture, it is addressed as part of the plan rather than left to wear the new restoration down. Regular checkups let small changes be caught early.

Swelling in the face or jaw, fever, or difficulty swallowing or breathing need urgent care right away; call 911 or go to an emergency room if breathing or swallowing is affected. A broken tooth, a lost crown or a toothache that keeps you awake should be seen promptly, before the damage spreads. Call us and we will tell you how soon to come in, and whether the repair may be possible the same day.