Last year, Dental Products Report surveyed dentists: Without considering cost, which technology would dentists want to implement in their practices? About 25% of respondents chose CEREC. In fact, 7500 American dentists use CEREC today. It is definitely a hot item. So when the July Dental Practice Report interviewed Dr. Paul Schoenbeck, a six-year veteran CEREC user, I wanted to find out the real scoop behind CEREC ownership.
CEREC costs about $2K per month, which means a dentist will need to place three or four crowns to pay for the unit and related expenses. Dr. Schoenbeck advises CEREC dentists to manage time well while the machine mills a restoration. Either address other procedures with the CEREC patient (Patient A), or double-book so that you can work on Patient B while Patient A’s restoration is being created.
Dr. Schoenbeck cites control and accuracy as great reasons to use CEREC, but there is a learning curve. Expect to place about 15 CEREC crowns before getting your time down to the hour and a half that everyone raves about. In the beginning, you may invest three hours on just one restoration. Bottom line, according to Dr. Shoenbeck, is commitment. CEREC is not a tool that you should purchase, use a few times, and give up on. You’ll have to commit to learning how to optimize CEREC for your purposes, and then massage your technique for efficiency.
Learn more about CEREC here: http://www.cereconline.com/.