Is a CEREC crown worth the money?

Question

I priced out a root canal and crown with no insurance, and it was between 1-2 thousand dollars, and part of that was dependent on the type of crown, silver, gold, or "porcelain over noble metal", which I have one of and have had no problem with for the last 15 years. Then the company I work for was sold to another company which provides dental insurance. I went to a preferred provider on my plan, who gave me an estimate of 1500 dollars with insurance. When I asked about my options with different kinds of crowns they said they only did these CEREC crowns. I looked them up, but would like to hear from someone in the dental industry outside of the dentist office trying to sell it to me. Are these better/more expensive/worth the money over a porcelain crown?

Answer 1

Hi there -



The big advantage that the CEREC crowns have is that there is less time involved - no impression to send to the lab, wait for it to made, wait for it to come back, and then have another appointment for it to be placed.



Otherwise (IMHO), there is nothing very spectacular about the ones I have seen, and they do seem to leak more than regular porcelain fused to metal crowns.



I would not choose CEREC for myself - if that helps any. I think they really do lead to more problems in the long run.

Answer 2

I just had one on my back molar and came home and read the reviews. Now I am mad because my dentist claimed they were superior and would last alot longer but from the sounds of it they don't. It took forever to get done and it hurt like the dickens. I would not get one again. It was comparable in price to the other type of crown that I got a few yrs ago.

Answer 3

I have had both. I had 6 CEREC crowns done 7 years ago so far 2 have broken and have had to be replaced. I chose a traditional crown for my replacement and I am so much happier! Less pain, less discoloration (oh they didn't mention discoloration did they, well it depends on how the tooth is bonded to your stub, yes, I wrote stub.) I had pain for WEEKS after my CEREC crowns were put in. The dentists who use CEREC as a rule, are high end and need to make a lot of money to pay the rent and to pay for the machine. Please don't trust dentists that bring you into a room and offer you a credit payment plan, my dentist had a waterfall in the office. Just go the old route.......sometimes newer isn't better!

Answer 4

As a Dental Lab owner for 20 years and working in this business since I was 19 I can say I would rather have a multi layered PFM over any restoration. I also still prefer full cast gold over all ceramics. That being said I have 8 multi-layer Zirconia ( Procera ) crowns in my mouth as well as gold crowns, gold inlays and PFM crowns. What has lasted the longest is the gold crowns and inlays. ( I made them ). My Zirconia crowns have had cracks and chips. But more because of my choices in sports. I have never had a PFM break in my mouth. yet from time-to-time I will have to remake a chipped PFM restoration on our patients.Cerec is made up of a block of a variety of felspar glass and/or zirconia depending on the dentists choice. Zirconia is very strong but not impervious to breaking,fracture and chipping. Gold will never result in any of the failures. Like one person said in this posting, Fast and quick does not mean better. My advice is let the lab do the work ask for a multi layered crown or gold.And make sure the dentist and lab is not outsourcing to CHINA !

Answer 5

In our office we generally don't give options for different types of crowns as well. Our recommendations include concerns for esthetics so that includes porcelain crowns on the front teeth. The major advantage for cerec over laboratory fabricated crowns is they can be prepared and delivered the same day, reducing the amount of time you spend in the dental chair. It sounds like you may need to find another dentist in order to get what you want since it sounds like you do not trust the office you are currently seeing.



My strong recommendation is to NOT choose your dentist based on 'who takes my dental insurance'. We have dozens of patients who have dental insurance we do not take but continue to come to us because they know and trust us. I would suggest you find a dentist based on the recommendation of friends and family rather than purely insurance based. There. Off my soap box.

Answer 6

CEREC crowns are very well documented to be excellent in durability and appearance. This product is 27 years old this year, so it's not new.



Some people comment that they have seen bad CEREC crowns, and I have no doubts they have.If you asked further, I doubt anyone would deny they also have seen bad lab crowns. Ultimately it's the clinician's choice to place a crown in a patient's mouth.



Many labs (probably around 35%) are using CAD technology to design and fabricate restorations, and this trend is growing. Digital impressioning is here to stay; it is far more accurate technology than molding and far less labor intensive.



PFM (porcelain fused to metal) crowns are inherently weaker crowns since CEREC crowns are milled from one piece of material. When PFM's fail, more often than not it's because there's a problem in this fusing. This does not make them a bad crown, in my opinion, per se, but one piece is inherently stronger.



You'll be fine either way, but you won't go wrong with a CEREC crown. After 27 years there's a ton of research on them I'm sure your dentist will be willing to discuss with you or provide material for you to review should you want to.

Answer 7

Many dentists think the quality of CEREC crowns are very poor as the dentist must get a great scan of the teeth because a computer can't fix any imperfections like a lab technician making a crown can, but some like them and get good results. I would go for the tried and true porcelain fused to noble metal or base metal in my mouth.

Answer 8

Cerec Crown

Answer 9

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

Is a CEREC crown worth the money?

I priced out a root canal and crown with no insurance, and it was between 1-2 thousand dollars, and part of that was dependent on the type of crown, silver, gold, or "porcelain over noble metal", which I have one of and have had no problem with for the last 15 years. Then the company I...

Answer 10

I ve been told that another benefit of a Cerec crown is that with future X-rays, the remaining tooth can be visualized. Is this true? I lost a PFM molar that also had undergone a root canal and the remaining tooth was totally rotted away (no pain symptoms and my dentist stated they had been "watching" it for 5 years - watching what? - Rot?) Can x-ray visualize through Cerec crowns?

Answer 11

I have both, an old full crown with root canal and an overlay Cerec. I love the Cerec! I had some large fillings when I was younger so typically a dentist will do a full crown and most of the time a root canal. With the Cerec a partial overlay was done, saving most of the tooth! It the second tooth on the bottom from the back. My dentist guarantees it should it break if I keep my regular 6 mos appointment. It was also less expensive and of course much less time consuming! Anyone who says they would do one either 1) has not had one or 2) does not have the experience of doing one. Shame on the dental hygienist that stated she's seem them leak more! Perhaps her office doesn't do them but any crown will 'leak' if not seated properly. I am going to have another one done on my upper back too--which has a large filling in it too. By the way, it has a white filling and has chipped and started to leak. So you see, with time anything can and probably will leak.

Answer 12

Absolutely not! I've had 2 and they both failed. One lasted a month. I had to have that tooth pulled. The other lasted two years before it came off. Cerec crowns are not worth the time and money. My other crowns with metal have lasted more than 20 years and are still intact.

Answer 13

I had a CEREC crown put on a little over 1 year ago and it has now chipped with a triangular piece missing (jaw side - base of triangle). It is on my #15 tooth (no wisdom teeth) which is what I use to chew. He is charging me another $1.2k to replace the tooth. But from what I read about durability, thickness (layering), etc and since I don't care about looks, I will find another alternative. All metal crowns are supposed to be the most durable. The CEREC crown is made from ceramic material. Yes it allows for 1 visit versus 2. But quick doesn't always equal better.