Suffer a cracked or broken tooth and your dentist is likely to recommend a crown, a custom-fitted cap to cover it and restore the tooth's shape, strength and appearance. Traditionally that meant having a model of the tooth and surrounding area made using a mold, sending the impression to a dental laboratory to make the crown, having a temporary restoration put in place, waiting a week or more for the finished crown to be sent back to the dentist's office and returning for a second visit where the temporary is removed and the new crown is cemented into place. In the last several years, however, an increasing number of dentists have embraced a quicker option. Using computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technologies, many have begun making crowns in one-office visit while the patient waits. Commonly referred to as a "same-day crown," or a "crown while you wait," the procedure is one of several advancements that reflect the growth in digital dentistry.
I think this is a wonderful example of just how far we've come in medical technology in the past decade. What used to take weeks can now be done in just a couple of hours. Medicine is advancing at an unprecedented rate, getting better care to more people faster.
This is such a cool advancement! It's great to see how far technology (medical technology specifically) has come in the past few decades and I hope even more advancements are made in the future.
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