Please briefly explain your background in digital dentistry.
My university in the South of France, Montpellier first introduced me to digital dentistry. They had a CEREC BlueCam machine which they allowed students to practice on and discover the workflow. As soon as I used this machine, I believed that CAD/CAM technology would be the future of dentistry – and now it’s everywhere! In order to stay relevant in the market, you have to keep up-to-date with the latest technology otherwise you will fall behind your competitors. We want to offer our patients the best, and CEREC is the best.

Why did you choose CEREC over other CAD/CAM systems?
I chose CEREC naturally as this is what we had at the university and were taught with. But even when I had the chance to discover other systems, I felt more comfortable with the CEREC workflow. Everything is so smooth, well synced, and works well together. So why would we need to use a different system other than CEREC? For me, CEREC is like the iPhone – it’s the leader in its industry. This is because of the quality and the intuitive relationship that the customer has with the CEREC machine.

Can you explain your experience with the support you receive from Dentsply Sirona?
We have strong support from Dentsply Sirona from A-Z. Our clinic is actually predominately Dentsply Sirona - treatment chairs, imaging units, CEREC, and consumables.
Our service engineers and our CAD/CAM consumables sales representative Joseph Magdy really help to ensure a smooth and easy life with CEREC.

How do you find the CEREC workflow?
Honestly it’s perfect. It does take more time than the regular process - for one restoration it can take around an hour and a half, or two hours if its highly aesthetic. But the end result is worth it – I’m happier as I deliver a better result and the patient is happier as everything is completed within a single session.

What are the types of cases you do with CEREC?
Everyone in our practice uses the Omnicam for scanning the teeth, especially our 2 orthodontists. Some are not comfortable with milling or shading and glazing, but I spent a lot of time using it in the past so I’m comfortable with the whole procedure. I mainly do single restorations, because for one restoration you have to anticipate at least an hour maybe more with the patient. Everyone is using the Omnicam at the clinic, from our general dentist with the single visit restorations, to our 2 orthodontic specialists scanning the arches for the Invisalign®1 cases or for creating in-house immediate digital surgical guides with our 2 surgeons.

What would you say are the advantages to your workflow and the practice by using CEREC?
It changes your way of working definitely. If you don’t have the CAD/CAM technology in house, usually you see one patient every 30 minutes but now with the CEREC I have fewer patients but bigger sessions. So I can take more time to perfect my work and have less stress - no patients waiting in the waiting room. At the end of the day it’s beneficial to everyone.

How has CEREC, and single-visit dentistry, affected the satisfaction of your patients?
It’s very good as the patient sees the whole process from start to finish, even the chairside workings. It’s nice to share what we are doing with the patients when they are in the chair, they love it. They enjoy seeing the milling machine working – this is why we keep it in the patient waiting room so they can take pictures!

By doing everything in one session we avoid using multiple anesthesia and temporary crowns. We also get more accuracy with digital impressions as CEREC trains us to do good prep. Aesthetically, we can achieve a better colour by working chairside with the patient. If I use a lab, I have to send pictures to my technician – the quality of the pictures is never as good as in real life.

In your opinion, can you achieve a high return on investment with CEREC?
I am not involved directly in the figures but I know that there are 6 doctors here using the equipment – 2 orthodontists and 4 general dentists. There is a huge demand for another Omnicam machine now! In terms of the full CEREC system, I know that in the long term we our reducing our lab costs overall.

What would you say was your goal with CEREC, and would you say you have achieved this yet?
First and foremost my goal was to deliver highly aesthetically pleasing restorations to my patients. I have only reached my goal because of CEREC. When I work with the labs either in France or Dubai there is always something that needs changing with the restorations. With the CEREC machine it allows us to design the tooth ourselves, so we can create the shape, colour and details that we want.

There’s no comparison – why send the work to the lab who doesn’t know how we work or what we want!