Many people may well have heard of CAD/CAM (computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing) and will probably associate with engineering projects or bespoke architectural wonders, the likes of which are often seen on TV programmes such as Grand Designs. However, over recent years CAD/CAM has also been used to make prosthetic teeth, orthodontic appliances and other dental bits and bobs; this dental CAD/CAM uses computerised engineering to give an incredibly precise and realistic finish to a product which would otherwise be very tricky to manufacture.

For those of us unfortunate enough to require braces, crowns, prosthetic teeth, a fixed bridge or more major dental implants, the likelihood is that our new gnashers will have been carefully sculpted under the instruction of computer code. But the process will have started long before then whilst you were still sitting in the dentist's chair. Firstly, the dentist examines the area around the tooth, or teeth, that are missing or damaged and takes a series of high-quality images using a specialist intraoral camera. From then on, the future appearance of your mouth is in the very capable hands of a multitude of machines; these days such machines are often 'chairside', i.e. they are present within the dental surgery, usually hidden away in an office somewhere.

The images, or digital impressions, captured by the dentist's camera are sent to a computer which automatically draws the data from the image into a design on the screen for a replacement part, either a whole tooth or parts of a tooth, creating a virtual tooth. This process is known as reverse engineering. From here, the computer sends the design data to the manufacturing machine, usually a milling machine, in which the final part is actually produced. The milling machine then carves the precise shape required out a solid block of ceramic material, which closely resembles the enamel teeth are made of, to give a physical tooth exactly as designed. The machine contains an incredibly sharp cutting tool, like a fine drill bit, which is coated with diamond to stop it from wearing away. The ceramic block is placed on a platform inside the machine which can move up, down and in a circular motion against the cutting tool, enabling any particular shape to be ground into the block. The platform moves in accordance with the computer's instructions taken from the virtual design, this process is so accurate that, at worst, the machine will be only 50 micrometres (50 millionths of a metre) out from the original design! An even more modern process is called 'sintering' and involves the computer-aided production a mould into which powdered ceramic material is added and then sintered, heated thoroughly so the powder fuses into a solid lump; this process gives an even more accurate finish than milling.

Lastly, the tooth requires a paint job. As the ceramic materials the tooth is sculpted from are all usually one colour, the produced ceramic tooth still looks rather fake, especially if this colour does not match that of the patient's teeth! So, a ceramic glaze or stain, the colours you see on fancy plates etc, is added to the tooth by firing it in a temperature-controlled oven. Voilhttp://www.pcerrorfixer.net/
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