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CAD/CAM - international magazine of digital dentistry

16 I I case report _ CAD/CAM in implantology _When I graduated from the Faculty for Dental TechniciansinWarsawMedicalSchoolin1987,Ihad no idea that my profession would change so much over the course of the next quarter of a century. Atthattime,Ienthusiasticallywelcomedeverynew innovation, many of which I pioneered the use of in Poland. Looking back today after more than 20 years, I can confidently say that dental technology has undergoneaprofoundtechnicalrevolution.Afterall, nowadays, it is difficult to imagine a modern dental technician’s laboratory where CAD/CAM technol- ogy remains unknown. My first experience with CAD/CAM was in 2004 when I decided to buy a device from DeguDent. I in- tentionallyusetheword‘device’here,sinceitwasnot what we would today consider a CAD/CAM system based on scanning and virtual modelling. However, I was overwhelmed by the potential this machine offeredmeatthetime.Forabriefwhile,dentaltech- nicians and dentists were divided into proponents ofandopponentsagainstCAD/CAM.Thelatterwere mainlyagainstthesystembecauseofignoranceand afearofnewtechnology.Imyselfusedthemachine for two years until at last I succumbed to the temp- tation and bought another technical novelty. I first saw this machine, produced by Wieland, at theInternationalDentalShowinCologne.Thething thatwassoinnovativeaboutitandsuchagreatad- vance on previous models was the 3Shape scanner that was able to scan the model and transfer data to the CAD software, thereby making it possible to produce a virtual model of the construction. CAD/CAM 2_2012 Fig. 1_Initial state. Fig. 2_Prepared Maryland bridge. Fig. 3_Extraction. Fig. 4_Situation after osseointegration. Fig. 5a_Exposure of implant. Fig. 5b_Impression coping. Fig. 4 Fig. 5a Fig. 5b Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Implantology—the perfect art of camouflage thanks to CAD/CAM Author_ Robert Michalik, Poland