The Essentials
What it is.
Same-day dentistry means the restoration is made while you wait. The tooth is prepared and scanned with a small light wand, the crown or onlay is designed on screen, milled from a solid block of ceramic a few steps from your chair, and bonded the same morning. Dentsply Sirona, the company behind CEREC®, puts the promise plainly: permanent restorations in a single visit, without impression trays.
Dr. Sitchon leads this side of the practice. The scan comes from a Dentsply Sirona Primescan or the 3Shape TRIOS® also used for Digital Smile Design — the office has both; the design is done in CEREC software and the ceramic is milled on the office’s CEREC Primemill — CEREC being the chairside system that has made same-day ceramics possible since 1985. The in-office 3D printer earns its keep here too — models and precision appliances are printed in-house instead of waiting on a laboratory.
The CEREC® Workflow
Scan, design, mill, finish.
Dentsply Sirona describes the CEREC chairside workflow in four steps. Here is what each one looks like from your chair.
ScanNo impression trays. A Primescan or TRIOS® wand captures the prepared tooth and its neighbours as a precise, full-colour 3D model in a couple of minutes. The CEREC workflow accepts either, and the office uses both — Dentsply Sirona’s Primescan and 3Shape’s TRIOS.
DesignIn the CEREC software the restoration begins as a proposal shaped from the anatomy of the neighbouring teeth — Dentsply Sirona calls it a biogeneric proposal. Dr. Sitchon refines the contacts, the bite and the contours on screen, then matches the shade to the teeth beside it.
ManufactureThe design is sent to the office’s CEREC Primemill, which carves the restoration from a solid block. Dentsply Sirona quotes around four minutes for a composite or hybrid-ceramic crown and around two minutes for an inlay in the Primemill’s super-fast mode, and around five minutes for a zirconia crown. The milling is the quick part of the appointment.
FinalizeMaterials that need heat — glass ceramics and zirconia — are fired and glazed in the office’s Ivoclar furnace; the rest are polished. Then the restoration is tried in, adjusted and bonded. You leave with the finished tooth.
Steps and milling times are as published by Dentsply Sirona for the CEREC Primemill; how long your appointment takes depends on the tooth, the material and the bite. CEREC, Primemill and Primescan are trademarks of Dentsply Sirona; Ivoclar is a trademark of Ivoclar Vivadent AG; TRIOS and TRIOS Design Studio are trademarks of 3Shape.
Made Here, Today
What leaves the same day.
Ceramic Crowns
Full coverage for a cracked tooth, a large failing filling or an old crown — designed in CEREC, milled in-office, bonded before you leave.
Onlays & Inlays
Partial-coverage ceramic that replaces only what the tooth has lost and keeps the healthy cusps — designed chairside in 3Shape TRIOS Design Studio.
3D-Printed Appliances
Models and precision appliances printed in-house on the office’s own printer instead of waiting on a laboratory.
Onlays & Inlays · 3Shape TRIOS® Design Studio
The conservative middle option.
Between a filling and a crown sits the onlay — and its smaller sibling, the inlay. When a tooth has lost too much to a failing filling for composite to hold, but its cusps are still sound, an onlay replaces only what is missing in milled ceramic and leaves the healthy walls alone. An inlay does the same job inside the cusps. Both are stronger than a large filling and far more conservative than a full crown.
These are designed in 3Shape TRIOS Design Studio, the chairside design software from 3Shape, the maker of the TRIOS. The scan flows straight into the design: the software offers an AI-driven starting proposal and a step-by-step guided workflow, and Dr. Sitchon refines the fit, the contacts and the bite to the tooth. The finished design is milled here and bonded the same visit.
Real Results
Before & after.
A same-day crown case from Dr. Sitchon’s files is being prepared for this page.
Every case on this site is a real Arbor Dental patientIs This You?
Sound familiar?
- A cracked tooth, a large failing filling or an old crown you want replaced in one visit
- A filling that has grown too large to replace with another filling — but the tooth is not ready for a crown
- A schedule that cannot absorb two appointments and a temporary in between
- A gag reflex that makes impression trays miserable — the scan replaces them
- A tooth weakened by a root canal that needs full coverage soon
Good To Know
Questions, answered.
Does it really happen in one visit?
For most single crowns, onlays and inlays, yes — scan, design, mill and bond in one appointment. You leave with the finished tooth, not a temporary.
Crown, onlay or inlay — who decides?
The tooth does, mostly. If the cusps are sound, an onlay or inlay keeps them; if the tooth has lost too much, a crown protects what remains. Dr. Sitchon walks you through it on the scan before anything is shaped.
Is a same-day crown as strong as a lab crown?
Milled ceramics are lab-grade materials; what changes is where the restoration is made and how long you wait. Fit, bite and colour are refined chairside before it is bonded.
What if my case is complex?
Some cases are better served by the master laboratory the practice has trusted for decades — Dr. Paulson’s craft heritage. You will know which path is yours before anything starts.
How long is the appointment?
Plan on a single longer visit rather than two short ones. The milling itself takes minutes; the care goes into the preparation, the design and the final fit.
Ready when you are.
New patients are welcomed with an unhurried, comprehensive first visit — photographs, a conversation about your goals, and a plan you'll understand completely.
Schedule a Consultation