Milling My First Cerec Crown

Hello friends! I milled my very first Cerec crown yesterday, and it was a beaut. The whole process was pretty simple considering how complex the technology is. I took the crown I designed last week and touched it up a bit and then electronically sent the file to the milling machine. The whole milling process only took about 13 min. I was going to take pictures, but the milling machine uses so much water that they weren't turning out very well. So I took a short video of the milling… Still a lot of water, but I think you can see how it works a little better. Have a great week! Enjoy! And Happy Thursday!

The block of composite my crown was milled out of. ^

The intaglio (underside) surface of the crown ^

Testing the fit on my typodont ^

Occlusion checked and crown seated. The margins were beautiful. I was really impressed with how well the machine worked. ^

Did you miss me?!

Hello! I haven't been able to post much since all of my time is spent seeing patients now…like real live patients. Since I had the rare occasion of being in sim-clinic I decided to throw up a few pictures for you to check out. 

We are working on our Cerec module and I actually remembered to take pictures. For those of you that don't know, Cerec is a machine that is capable of taking 3D images and milling a crown in the same appointment. It's pretty techy stuff. Enjoy! 

Impression with heavy/light body. I just like the colors. From here I mounted my models. 

My prep on #28 with HUGE margins. We were told we needed 1.5mm margins on our preps and I think they look ridiculous. 

Using the intra-oral scanner to take 3D images of my model. 

Action shot. 

You take 3 or 4 images and the computer stitches them together to create a master image.  Fancy.

With all of my scans in the computer, I am ready to design my crown and prepare it to be milled. 

Finished crown design. Kind of a wide contact on the distal, but I am satisfied. Next week we will mill our crowns. Stay tuned. 

Thanks for reading! Happy Wednesday!

Yankin' Teeth

A tooth I removed for a precious man yesterday. Great reminder of why I am in this profession. 

I have been a part of a team of students, faculty, and social workers that have been working on opening a dental clinic that provides free care to those with disabilities and children under the age of 5. Yesterday was a monumental day. That clinic seen its first patents and it was a huge success. My college does a wonderful job at putting emphasis on the importance of giving back to your community, they don't just preach it… they lead by example. Proud Day. 


Happy Sunday! 

2012?! Holla!

Busting out NBDE II review materials. 

Hi Everyone! 


I know I have been M.I.A. for quite awhile now… but why dwell on the past, I am here right now :) 
Yesterday I was a part of a panel of 3rd years that spoke to the 2nd years about the NBDE I. It was interesting to hear how other people in my class studied and to see the looks of terror on the 2nd years faces as we explained the test. Jk. I think we (the 3rd years) tried to simplify things for them and maybe even down played the effort that goes into preparing for that test. 
When I got home from school yesterday it kind of hit me that I have to start prepping for boards again this year… NBDE II to be exact. This test is a bit of a concern to me as I hate standardized tests and the fail rate is significantly higher than part I. After giving plenty of advice to the 2nd years yesterday, I decided that I was going to revamp my study style a bit for part II. 
When asked what I would have done differently about prepping for part I, I said I wished I would have taken it earlier. So, I decided to take my own advice and I am going to take Part II as early as possible (with in reason of course.) We are allowed to take it from July-Dec I think and I would like to take it mid-end of July… Just get it done with right away. That does mean that my summer is going to be filled with studying, but thats alright… gotta put in the time at some point, right? 
Hopefully everyone had a productive and happy 2011! Here's to an even better year in 2012! Happy Wednesday. 


P.S. For the 2nd years that couldn't make out the non-sense I was rambling on about… here is a link to a post I had written about how I studied for part I. Click here.