I recently had my teeth cleaned at the Dental Studio by Pedro Ortiz on the corridor across from Fresko. The dentist doing the cleaning told me that the molar on my upper left was cracked and that I would need an appointment with Dr. Pedro. I went to the appointment and my original X-Ray was up on the screen. This was a tooth that had previously had a root canal and Dr. Pedro noted that at some point it would probably need a crown.

So the process started and 45 minutes later, I was leaving with the new crown in my mouth. How does this happen? First, Dr. Pedro ground down the cracked tooth. Part of this process was done with small magnifying eyepieces on Dr. Pedro. Then digital impressions were taken of the tooth from all directions with a wand that was placed in my mouth. The next step was for Dr. Pedro to manipulate the digital images on a screen behind me in the chair. The completed image of the crown was then sent to the 3-D printer in another room, where a block of porcelain, matched to the color of my teeth, was mounted in the printer. The printer then cut the block to the exact dimensions of the crown that was to be mounted. It was brought out and polished by Dr. Pedro’s assistant. The crown was pressed in my mouth and the fit and height checked. It was then glued onto the tooth and everything was finished – in 45 minutes!