There's a dental filling/crown called CEREC that is some sort of porcelain/glass type material that some dentists offer. Supposedly they use a computer to map your tooth then they have a machine that is connected to the computer that cuts the crown/filling to its proper size so the dentist can install it right there rather than having you come back. Anyone used this CEREC crown/filling material ?

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> yep, me.

That is what I just had put in. I had 4 done in one session and then 4 done the next. Usually, if you have 3 or more done in one session, the cost comes down. Which is why I did it that way, plus saved me from more visits.

Worked out well. No complaints, other than a niggly tooth (which was already dodgy anyway). Materials look good and hopefully will be ok for my immune system. They have a very good reputation, but must be done by a dentist experienced in replacing them.

I went to a dentist who is not only experienced in placing them, but actually is a cerec instructor, so he teaches other dentists how to place them properly.

I know two other people with them, and they did not notice any adverse reactions to them. But still suffering from the amalgam toxicity it seems, but that takes quite sometime to recover from anyway.

I hope this is helpful to you. A few biologic dentists i've spoken to believe this material to be the closest thing mimicking human enamel and feel it's one of the most biocompatible materials to date. One dentist only uses this and one other type of composite.

They do it right then and there! It takes about an hour a tooth, or sometimes less. Mine went pretty quickly! Faster than what I thought it would.

The guy who runs the serum testing lab in USA (Walter Clifford) spoke pretty favourably of it too and said it's a very stable material. So far, he's not yet seen an adverse immune response on testing to anybody....but again there is always a chance I guess.

It is not quite like oldstyle porcelain either, it's improved and does not have a metal base. Apparently it's debated whether it contains aluminium or not. however, Walter said that it is so stable a material, that you would get more exposure to aluminium from baking powder and common garden salad!

Bex, thanks for the info. What do molar fillings cost with this material? What do crowns cost?

It is so hard to make these decisiions as you could literally do research for weeks, maybe months and still not make the right now. Maybe I should just use a dartboard. LOL

No problem James.

They are very expensive. They cost me 950 dollars A TOOTH (molars). This is new zealand dollars. It is ridiculous and one wonders WHY???? But, my view is longterm and have heard they can save a lot of problems later on because they are quality and durable.

But the price came down when I had 3 or more done in one session. So it came down to 850 dollars (NZ) a tooth. I am paying them off very very slowly. I do not know how much crowns are. You could always phone or email a cerec dentist and get a vague estimate of the costs, that's what I did before choosing the dentist who gave the best deal.

lol, yeah it is really difficult and annoying to make decisons, trust me I know. I can't tell you how many dentists probably thought I was psycho because of my ongoing questions and fears. But once bitten twice shy as they say, and I have been hurt badly in the past by dental work and bad chelation. So after that I got really paranoid about it. Terrified in fact.

Doing things right the first time around saves a lot of heartache later on. But nothing is going to be perfect, just do as best as you can. There are no certainties in all this, it's very individual.

Thanks Bex. Btw, any idea what the translation is from NZ dollars to US?

Hi James, I think that 950 (NZ dollars) would be around 750 US dollars.

James, thought you might want to check out some old posts on here discussing cerec.
http://herballure.com/ubbthreads/sh...ain=11611&Search=true#Post239050

http://herballure.com/ubbthreads/sh...in=238950&Search=true#Post238950

http://herballure.com/ubbthreads/sh...in=237681&Search=true#Post237681

http://herballure.com/ubbthreads/sh...Main=13065&Search=true#Post13101

http://herballure.com/ubbthreads/sh...Main=10165&Search=true#Post10306

http://herballure.com/ubbthreads/sh...p;Main=9213&Search=true#Post9213

Personally, I feel every dental material has drawbacks. And I doubt cerec is perfect either. It's a pity there isn't a completely benign material. I don't know if I'd bust your wallet on this stuff if there is an ok alternative.

The big advantage of Cerec is that you don't have to deal with having temporary fillings in your mouth while a lab makes the inlays, onlays, or crowns. This might take two weeks or so. Temporary fillings are annoying, and one typically needs to chew on the other side of their mouth. With lab made inlays,onlays, or crowns a second appointment is then needed to install the inlay or onlay(or crown) .As for cost, CEREC seems to be comparable to lab made inlays or onlays. My dentist still uses lab made inlays and onlays. Many dentists are watching the developments from the sideline, and not ready to start using CEREC yet.

You can do a Google search on CEREC and find many articles about it.

Dental costs vary greatly depending on your location. For example, the NYC area seems to be on average more than double the US average cost.

http://www.bracesinfo.com/dentalcosts/

Yup I had Cerec too. That machine is cool, right out of the Terminator films….whizzing around making your tooth there and then.

I paid £180 per filling (usd 360)

I also had some Voco Grandio inlays @ £700 (usd 1400)

And……….most importantly no problems.