CEREC in Essen-Rüttenscheid: Digital Planning and In-Practice Dental Restoration Manufacturing

CEREC is a computer-assisted restorative workflow. Today, the term is primarily associated with digital impressions, CAD-based design and computer-assisted manufacture of ceramic restorations.

For patients, four steps are central:

1. Scanning: the teeth and relevant areas are captured digitally.
2. Design: the planned restoration is created on a computer.
3. Manufacturing: depending on the material, the restoration is milled or ground.
4. Finishing and placement: the restoration is checked, further processed where required by the material, and then fitted.

The technology does not replace dental diagnosis. Before any digital design is created, it must first be decided whether the tooth can be restored and which type of restoration is appropriate for the defect.

the practice's existing CAD/CAM workflow can be used for a range of restorative tasks.

Inlays

An inlay is an indirectly manufactured intracoronal restoration. It may be considered for certain posterior-tooth defects where a direct filling is not the preferred option but a full crown does not appear necessary.

Suitable inlays can be manufactured and fitted at the practice in one appointment.

Onlays

An onlay covers not only internal tooth surfaces but also larger areas of the occlusal surface or individual cusps. For more extensive loss of tooth structure, it can therefore sit between a direct filling and a full crown.

Onlays can also be manufactured digitally in one appointment when the clinical situation is suitable.

Veneers

Ceramic veneers can likewise be designed and manufactured digitally. In suitable cases, treatment in one appointment may be possible.

This does not mean that every aesthetic veneer case automatically belongs in a single appointment. More extensive changes, several teeth, special characterisation or other clinical requirements may make a different workflow more appropriate.

More about veneers

Crowns

Crowns are also part of the digital restorative spectrum. Material selection is particularly important here.

Selected feldspathic and lithium-disilicate crowns can be manufactured in the practice workflow using MC XL. Zirconia restorations can also be produced through the available digital manufacturing and SpeedFire workflow.

Whether this results in complete treatment in one appointment is decided separately for each tooth.

More about dental restorations

Many digital workflows at the practice begin with Primescan AC.

An intraoral scanner captures the relevant tooth and oral structures. The images are used to create a three-dimensional digital dataset for restorative planning and design.

The current German S2k guideline on intraoral scanning describes digital scan data as a basis for various computer-assisted planning and manufacturing processes. At the same time, the scan is only one part of the full treatment chain: tooth preparation, material selection, design, bonding or cementation and clinical checks remain separate dental steps.

Does a digital scan always mean “no conventional impression”?

For many CEREC restorations, the necessary information can be captured directly with an intraoral scanner. In these workflows, a conventional impression with impression material and a tray can therefore often be avoided.

We deliberately do not present this as an absolute rule for every treatment carried out in the practice. Depending on the restoration or laboratory workflow, other impression methods may still be useful or necessary.

After scanning, the planned restoration is designed digitally.

The purpose is not simply to produce an attractive tooth shape on a screen. The restoration needs to fit several clinical factors:

• the prepared tooth surface,
• neighbouring teeth,
• contact points,
• opposing teeth,
• the bite,
• available space,
• and the required material thickness.

Digital design supports this process but does not replace dental judgement. An automatically generated design proposal must therefore be clinically reviewed and adjusted where necessary.

Not every restoration and material has the same manufacturing requirements.

The practice has two different CAD/CAM manufacturing units:

• MC XL as a four-axis milling and grinding unit,
• MC X5 as a five-axis manufacturing unit for an expanded digital workflow.

MC XL is used, among other applications, for suitable chairside ceramic single restorations. MC X5 expands the workflow to other geometries, materials and forms of manufacture.

Patients should not interpret this as a simple hierarchy. Five axes are not automatically “better” than four axes for every crown. The suitable machine depends on the material, type of restoration and manufacturing process.

inLab 22 provides a software platform for digital design and manufacturing processes.

It extends the workflow beyond simple chairside single restorations and can work with different manufacturing units. For patients, the software name itself matters less than the fact that scan, design and manufacturing data can be handled within an integrated digital process chain.

Software can automate parts of the workflow, but it does not make the medical decision about which restoration is needed.

After machining, zirconia requires thermal processing. SpeedFire is available in the practice for this purpose.

Suitable zirconia crowns can therefore be manufactured and thermally processed within a comparatively short digital production workflow.

The technical possibility of rapid sintering does not guarantee a fixed overall treatment time. Tooth preparation, scanning, design, milling, individualisation, checks and placement may be required before and after the furnace phase.

For this reason, a device cycle time is not turned into an advertising claim such as “your zirconia crown is always ready within one hour”.

Because treatment involves more than the machine cycle.

With certain feldspathic or lithium-disilicate crowns, the machine-based CAD/CAM manufacturing step in the practice workflow can take approximately 30 minutes. This information describes the practice's technical production capability.

For the actual patient appointment, the following may additionally be necessary:

• examination and indication,
• local anaesthesia if required,
• preparation,
• digital acquisition,
• design,
• material processing,
• material-dependent thermal or aesthetic finishing,
• try-in,
• checking contact points and the bite,
• and definitive bonding or cementation.

A milling time therefore cannot be used to infer a universal total treatment time.

A one-visit workflow can be particularly appropriate when:

• the required type of restoration is suitable for it,
• the tooth can be definitively prepared,
• the selected material can be processed with the available workflow,
• no additional dental laboratory intermediate steps are required,
• and the clinical assessment allows definitive placement at the same appointment.

For inlays and onlays, this workflow is possible at the practice in suitable cases. Veneers can also be completed in one appointment in suitable cases.

For crowns, the situation depends on the material and the individual case. Extensive bridges or implant-supported restorations follow a different workflow.

Digital dentistry does not automatically mean “everything immediately”.

For implant crowns, The practice uses a digital intraoral-scanning workflow over two appointments. Bridges are also treated over two appointments within this workflow.

An additional appointment can be appropriate when:

• more complex dental laboratory steps are required,
• aesthetics require more extensive individual characterisation,
• a controlled try-in is planned,
• several teeth or larger spans are being restored,
• a different material or laboratory concept is more appropriate,
• or clinical reasons weigh against definitive placement on the same day.

The shortest treatment is not automatically the best treatment.

CEREC is frequently associated with ceramic restorations because several dental ceramics can be processed digitally. “Ceramic”, however, is not a single material.

Material groups used in clinical CAD/CAM include feldspathic ceramics, lithium disilicate and zirconia. These differ in mechanical and optical properties as well as in their processing requirements.

The material considered for a particular tooth depends on factors including type of restoration, tooth position, remaining tooth structure, loading, available space and aesthetic objective.

No material is therefore presented on this page as the universally “best CEREC material”.

A blanket statement that “digital is always more precise” would be too simplistic.

Current scientific guidelines confirm that intraoral scans can provide sufficiently accurate data for numerous digital dental workflows. This does not mean that every digital workflow is automatically better than every conventional method regardless of scanner, scanning strategy, preparation, restoration size and subsequent processing.

The entire process chain matters.

At the practice, digital technology is therefore not promoted as a guarantee of quality, but used as a tool that can support direct, well-integrated restorative planning and manufacturing in suitable cases.

Alongside subtractive CAD/CAM methods — milling or grinding a restoration from a block or blank — The practice also has Primeprint for dental 3D-printing workflows.

3D printing and CEREC milling are not the same manufacturing process. Primeprint produces suitable dental applications layer by layer from approved printing materials. The clinical indication determines whether a printed or milled workflow is used.

For classic ceramic CEREC inlays, onlays and ceramic crowns, the milling/grinding workflow is relevant. 3D printing expands the practice's digital capabilities but does not replace this process in general.

No. A digitally manufactured restoration does not change the basic rules of oral health.

Crowns, inlays, onlays and veneers need to be cared for consistently together with the natural teeth. Restoration margins and interdental spaces are particularly important.

Even a technically precise ceramic restoration does not automatically protect the remaining tooth from new caries or the surrounding gums from inflammation.

Regular examinations and preventive care adapted to personal risk therefore remain important.

Professional teeth cleaning

A fixed service life cannot responsibly be promised.

Prognosis does not depend only on whether a restoration was manufactured digitally or conventionally. Relevant factors include:

• size and type of defect,
• remaining tooth structure,
• material,
• preparation and fixation,
• bite loading,
• clenching or grinding,
• oral hygiene,
• caries risk,
• and regular follow-up.

A CEREC restoration is therefore not a “maintenance-free tooth forever”.

The digital workflow does not automatically determine which type of restoration a tooth needs.

Direct filling

For suitable small to medium-sized defects, a direct composite filling can be a conservative treatment option.

More about dental fillings

Inlay or onlay

When an indirect restoration is appropriate but the whole tooth does not need to be crowned, an inlay or onlay may be considered. In suitable cases, the one-appointment CAD/CAM workflow is particularly relevant here.

Crown

With more extensive loss of tooth structure, a crown may be required. Whether it can be manufactured chairside and which material is used depends on the specific findings.

More about dental restorations

The right question is therefore not “Do I need CEREC?” but “Which restoration does my tooth need, and can the digital workflow support it appropriately?”

When a tooth needs restoration, we first determine which treatment is medically appropriate. Only then is it decided whether a direct digital CEREC workflow is suitable or whether another restorative or dental laboratory route is better.

Dr. med. dent. J. Hayim M.Sc. Rüttenscheider Str. 194–196 45131 Essen

Phone: +49 201 48682900 Email: praxis@hayim.de

Patient communication and appointment scheduling are supported in German, English, French, Spanish and Turkish.

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The current S2k guideline “Intraoral Scanning in Dentistry” from DGZMK and DGCZ, dated September 2025, was considered in particular when assessing digital scanning. It describes intraoral scan data as a basis for different digital planning and CAD processes while making clear that scanning is only one part of a wider treatment chain.

Device and workflow information about Primescan AC, MC XL, MC X5, inLab 22, SpeedFire and Primeprint was cross-checked against verified practice information and current manufacturer documentation from Dentsply Sirona. Manufacturer statements on speed, productivity or system performance are not used as evidence of better patient outcomes.

Editorial review date: 8 August 2026. This page does not replace an individual dental examination or treatment planning.