Rich Rosenblatt 
Do you still use gold for restorations? If so, it is tough to beat using a CEREC. I know, I know….I have a hammer so everything has to be a ceramic nail. Not so much. I love to use my labs and I love to be able to utilize the full complement of materials by taking advantage of sending certain cases to the lab. I don’t do a lot of gold, but occasionally a patient will ask for it or I may want to use it on a second molar with minimal clearance. Here is why I love using CEREC for gold restorations. I will prep the tooth, image it and design it just as if I was doing the case chairside. I dial in the contacts, both interproximal and occlusal and also the contours and then I mill my temp. I tend to use a block like lava ultimate or even a composite block. They mill the best margins and tend to be able to last the few days that I have it temporarily cemented on. There are also options like the Merz Artegral temp blocks or the Vita or Ivoclar temp material blocks too. I get to try in the temp and make sure that the marginal fit and contacts are perfect. Once that is verified, I will actually email or Dropbox that case to my lab. By doing this, all the lab needs to do is to mill out the block out of Cad-wax and invest and cast it. Since it is exactly the same file as the temp I made, it will fit exactly like my temp. My lab does not even make a model for this usually.
The major advantages of doing gold restorations this way are:
- Can duplicate exactly what you designed for the temp so the fit will be identical. This makes for a very fast seat appointment
- The temp you made is a milled temp so the margins are ideal. The tissue response will be as good as you have ever seen when you go and remove it
- The turnaround time can be lightning fast. Think about it. The lab gets you digital file and can mill out that cad wax immediately. No need to pour up a model or spend time waxing a crown form. Many labs can turn around a gold crown in just a few days. I’ve even had them shipped out the same day from a lab when they received it early enough in the morning.
If you have not tried this method, give it a whirl. It makes for one of the fastest turn arounds and easiest seat appointments you have ever experienced.
