Sirona Dental Systems has donated $500,000 worth of imaging equipment to the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Dentistry and its dental clinic. The equipment will give dental students valuable hands-on experience working with cutting-edge equipment, according to the school.
Sirona donated 10 Cerec chairside digital imaging units, which will allow dentists to take 3D images of chipped teeth and manufacture crowns onsite while patients wait, the school said.
The digital imaging system replaces a traditional impression or mold when a dentist needs to repair a tooth. The Cerec unit takes a 3D image of a damaged tooth and nearby teeth, then generates a computer model for the cap needed to repair it. The model can be sent to an onsite milling unit, which chisels the crown from a block of porcelain in about 15 minutes.
