Bob Conte This was a case I did this week just before hopping on a plane to travel to Scottsdale. The patient called and reported he had "chipped his tooth". No big deal let's give him a 30 minute emergency time slot. Upon exam he actually fractured the facing on #6. Game on! The original prosthesis is a 12 year old 3 unit PFZ bridge. Now he needs a new bridge. Before CEREC this was a challenge on a few levels at this time of year. In an insurance based practice like mine. there is no way to get this project done before year end. This means all of the insurance benefits this patient has for 2017 would go unused. The other hassle is that with 2 major holidays coming this month, we wouldn't get the case back from our lab until early January. Nothing better than wearing a temporary bridge for 4 weeks during the holidays. I guarantee you I would get a phone call from this guy at the worst possible time during the holidays.
The way we handled this case was to take care of him that very same day. A same day 3 unit bridge for us is a 2.5 hour visit whether we use zirconia or emax. If you have multiple operatories this is a really simple work flow. Remove the bridge, refine the preps, image and design. This will take the average dentist 30-60 minutes. Even if it takes 90 minutes, that is all the doctor time needed as the rest of the time is simply milling and crystallizing. After the bridge is processed the cementation is another 15 minutes. At most this procedure will require 1.5-2 hours of doctor time. This is a $3600 procedure with a lab bill of $105 (block), which is great hourly production. When you consider you are likely doing additional procedures on another patient or 2 during the processing this is a great day. Don't worry about the patient sitting around for 2-3 hours. These folks are thrilled to get their bridges same day!
