today IDEM Singapore 2014 05 April

science & practice06 IDEM Singapore 2014—5 April n CAD/CAM methods for con- ventional dental and implant- borne prostheses have gained popularity for a variety of rea- sons. Despite many advantages in terms of cost and convenience, the uptake of this relatively new technology is slow, hinting at a reluctance to try something new. Many, if not most, clinicians still choose to have fixed implant- borne multi-unit prostheses fab- ricated by traditional methods of casting and veneering pre- cious metal alloys. However, the associated high technical and material costs may be prohibi- tive to the group of patients who need this treatment modality the most. To this end, more cost- effective alloys, including base metal alloys, have been cast and veneered with a variety of tooth- coloured materials with good success. CAD/CAM takes this one step further. In fact, materi- als such as zirconia, which has revolutionised dental prostheses, would not be in use were it not for CAD/CAM. There has been much discus- sion around the problem of achieving passivity of fit, the lack of which, it has been postulated, can contribute to mechanical and biologicalcomplications.Themul- tiple steps and materials used in impressiontaking,castingawork- ing model, producing a wax pat- tern, casting in metal alloy then veneering in tooth-coloured ma- terial all lead to a certain degree of misfit. CAD/CAM can help to address this common problem. The use of digital dentistry is more common than clinicians might think, as the laboratory processes involved have already been widely imple- mented and dental technicians can take the credit for driving the use of the technology forwards. The next step is to adopt digital technology to replace some of the clinical steps in fabricating a pros- thesis, namely the impression stage, which leads to production of a working cast. These steps can introduce cu- mulative inaccuracies, as well as consume a variety of materials that are then discarded. In addi- tion, there are time-savings to be made, perhaps not in the initial stages of learning and integrating newtechnology,but,oncefamiliar with the systems involved, all will benefit from the improved and efficient workflow. My presentation at the Dental Tribune Study Club Symposium will highlight some of the ad- vantages and disadvantages of CAD/CAM. My goal is to enable clinicians to see how it might be- come more widely accepted in their daily practice and remove some of their reservations. The next generation of dentists will hopefully come to view tradition- al methods of manufacturing den- tal prostheses in the same way as we now view fixed partial den- tures as a way to replace missing teeth before implants. Having received his dental degree from the University of Liverpool intheUK,DrStevenSoonowworks as a dental specialist in prostho- dontics at Specialist Dental Group in Singapore. Today, he will be pre- senting a lecture on the benefits of CAD/CAM technology for den- tal implant and restorative proce- dures at the Dental Tribune Study Club Symposium on Level 6. One step further with CAD/CAM By Dr Steven Soo,Singapore AD 5 Dr Steven Soo TDI0714_06_Soo 31.03.14 13:52 Seite 1