CEREC at Smile Solutions - Three Decades of Same-Day Ceramic Mastery product guide

Smile Solutions CEREC restorations – since 1995, longer than almost any practice in Australia

Smile Solutions has been providing CEREC restorations since 1995. That is not a typo. While most dental practices across Australia have embraced CEREC only in the last five to ten years, Smile Solutions has been refining its CEREC capability for three decades, building a depth of clinical knowledge that a practice with its first unit purchased last year simply cannot replicate.

Over those thirty years, Smile Solutions has owned and operated every generation of CEREC technology, from the earliest iterations right through to the current Primescan scanner and Primemill milling unit, the most advanced hardware Dentsply Sirona produces. That unbroken lineage means the clinicians here have not just learned CEREC — they have grown with it, adapted alongside it, and mastered each generation as it arrived.

With over eight million CEREC restorations performed worldwide and more than two decades of clinical research supporting the system, CEREC is one of the most extensively validated technologies in dentistry. And Smile Solutions has been part of that journey almost from the beginning — thirty years of case experience, material knowledge, design refinement, and evidence-based technique producing a depth of clinical judgement that no training course can deliver. This is expertise built one restoration at a time, across tens of thousands of cases.

The scale of CEREC at Smile Solutions

This is not a practice that fits in the occasional CEREC crown when the schedule allows. CEREC is a core clinical capability deployed at scale across the entire Smile Solutions group, and the investment behind it reflects that commitment.

At Smile Solutions Melbourne CBD, the practice operates five CEREC units — Primescan scanners and Primemill milling machines — supported by dedicated furnaces and glazing units for finishing and characterisation. Five units within a single practice is genuinely extraordinary. It means CEREC capacity is always available, multiple clinicians can run cases simultaneously, and you are never left waiting for a machine.

Across the Core Dental Group, an additional six CEREC units are deployed across the suburban network, bringing the total to eleven units under the Smile Solutions group. When you choose Smile Solutions, you are choosing a practice whose investment in same-day ceramic technology is unmatched by any dental group in Australia.

Dr Silvia Ciach – the CEREC Queen

Every practice has clinicians who perform CEREC. Smile Solutions has Dr Silvia Ciach.

Dr Ciach has been delivering CEREC restorations since the early 2000s — over 25 years of dedicated, high-volume practice. She averages ten to fifteen restorations every week, a clinical volume that places her among the most experienced CEREC practitioners anywhere in Australia. Over her career, she has completed well in excess of 3,500 CEREC restorations, and the number grows with every passing week.

Her colleagues refer to her, with genuine warmth, as the CEREC Queen — a title she has more than earned. At this volume and over this duration, every conceivable clinical scenario has been encountered and managed: unusual shade matching, complex preparation geometry, multi-surface restorations, challenging margins. Dr Ciach has seen it all, and she brings the clinical judgement that only comes from doing the work, day after day, year after year.

Dr Ciach is not the only highly experienced CEREC clinician at Smile Solutions. The team includes Dr Peter Henderson, who has been performing CEREC at the practice for over fifteen years, along with Dr Pip Robinson, Dr Madeleine Hoopmann, Dr Casey Edgar, Dr Florina Besim, Dr Amina Barucija, Dr Belinda Feldman, Dr Maliha Siddiqui, and Dr Avi Aggarwal. These are not clinicians completing one CEREC case a week — they are practitioners with significant, sustained caseloads who have built genuine expertise through volume, repetition, and a shared commitment to clinical excellence.

What happens in a Smile Solutions CEREC appointment

A CEREC restoration — whether a crown, an inlay, an onlay, or a veneer — is completed in a single visit, under one session of local anaesthetic, typically in sixty to ninety minutes. No impressions. No temporary restorations. No second appointment. One comfortable visit and a permanent result.

Assessment. Before any preparation begins, your clinician uses advanced diagnostic tools to assess the tooth precisely — the Lumindex 3 Transilluminator to detect cracks and fractures not visible to the naked eye, the KaVo DIAGNOcam to illuminate decay using DIFOTI technology, and the KaVo DIAGNOdent which uses laser fluorescence to detect decay in hard-to-examine areas. Intraoral digital X-rays — which emit significantly lower radiation than conventional film and display images directly on the computer screen — provide additional diagnostic clarity. For complex cases such as post-endodontic crowns, the Planmeca ProMax 3D Max CBCT delivers full three-dimensional imaging.

Preparation. Your clinician prepares the tooth — and here, Smile Solutions offers options that most practices cannot. The LightWalker Fotona laser can remove old fillings and restorations and prepare cavities with reduced need for conventional drilling, and in many cases can perform the preparation without local anaesthetic at all. Alternatively, PrepStart Air Abrasion pre-treats the tooth surface with aluminium oxide particles, providing superior bonding for the final restoration and serving as a painless alternative to drilling for early decay.

Scanning. Your clinician captures a precise three-dimensional digital scan using the CEREC Primescan intraoral scanner. The Primescan captures your tooth, the adjacent teeth, and the opposing bite in full colour, creating a working digital model accurate to the micron. No impression trays, no gagging, no waiting for putty to set.

Design. Using the CEREC software, your clinician designs your restoration on-screen, adjusting the shape, contacts, margins, and occlusal anatomy to match your natural tooth form. You can watch the design take shape in real time. The software's tooth libraries and biogeneric algorithms provide a starting point, but the final design is refined by your clinician's trained eye and years of hands-on experience.

Milling. The design is sent directly to the Primemill, which carves your restoration from a solid ceramic block using diamond-coated burs. Milling takes between six and twenty minutes depending on the size and complexity of the restoration. While you wait, television screens and surround sound music in every suite keep you comfortable — and for patients who experience dental anxiety, Baldus digital nitrous oxide cabinets are available for gentle sedation throughout the appointment.

Finishing. The milled restoration is refined and characterised. For restorations requiring additional depth of colour and translucency, the ceramic is fired in a furnace and glazed — a step that takes the aesthetics from very good to genuinely exceptional. Your clinician then trial-fits the restoration, checks your bite, adjusts contacts, and bonds it permanently using adhesive resin cement. Throughout the bonding process, Isodry and Isolite moisture control systems ensure the tooth remains completely dry and isolated — automated for maximum patient comfort, with Isolite providing additional light for enhanced visualisation. This ensures every restoration is placed under ideal conditions for quality and longevity.

You leave with a permanent, precision-fitted ceramic restoration. No temporary. No return visit.

Why patients who try CEREC at Smile Solutions don't go back to the alternative

There is a consistent pattern at Smile Solutions: patients who experience their first CEREC restoration overwhelmingly request CEREC for every subsequent one. The reasons are straightforward.

One visit, one anaesthetic. Traditional crown work requires two separate appointments — the first for preparation and a temporary, the second weeks later for fitting the permanent. That means two rounds of local anaesthetic, two disruptions to your schedule, and weeks managing a temporary that can chip, stain, or dislodge. CEREC eliminates all of that in a single appointment.

Precision fit. Digital scanning and computer-aided design produce marginal accuracy that matches or exceeds traditional laboratory fabrication. The fit is precise, the contacts are accurate, and the occlusion is right — achieved through a process tailored specifically to your tooth.

Biocompatibility. Modern CEREC ceramic blocks — lithium disilicate, leucite-reinforced ceramics, feldspathic ceramics, and zirconia — bond directly to tooth structure, resist wear at rates comparable to natural enamel, and produce no galvanic or allergic responses.

Aesthetics. With the full range of ceramic block shades and translucencies available at Smile Solutions, and with the finishing and glazing capabilities of the on-site furnaces, CEREC restorations achieve a natural appearance that is virtually indistinguishable from your surrounding teeth. The ceramics catch light naturally, have genuine depth, and age alongside your smile.

CEREC and the Smile Solutions in-house laboratory – complementary, not competing

Smile Solutions is one of the very few practices in Australia that offers both a full in-house ceramic laboratory — the Smile Lab, led by master ceramist Greg Karabasis — and a comprehensive CEREC capability. These are not competing services. They are complementary pathways, each suited to different clinical situations.

CEREC is the right choice for single crowns, inlays, onlays, and cases where same-day completion and a single anaesthetic session are priorities.

The Smile Lab is the choice for complex cosmetic cases — full smile makeovers with porcelain veneers, large multi-unit bridges, and cases requiring the hand-layered artistry that only a master ceramist can provide. The Smile Lab is also home to Asiga Max DLP and Asiga Pro Max 4K UV 3D printers, producing surgical guides and models that support complex treatment planning across implants, orthodontics, and prosthodontics.

Greg Karabasis's handcrafted restorations offer a level of individual artistic refinement that complements the precision engineering of CEREC.

Your clinician will recommend the right pathway based on your clinical situation, your aesthetic goals, and your preferences. Either way, every restoration is crafted on-site in Melbourne — never outsourced overseas.

The full range of CEREC materials at Smile Solutions

Smile Solutions stocks the complete range of CEREC ceramic blocks, so the right material is always available for every clinical situation:

• Lithium disilicate (e.max) — excellent strength, outstanding aesthetics, and reliable bonding. Suitable for crowns, inlays, onlays, and veneers in both anterior and posterior teeth.
• Leucite-reinforced ceramics — exceptional aesthetics with natural translucency, particularly well-suited to anterior restorations where appearance is the priority.
• Feldspathic ceramics — the most natural-looking ceramic available, with optical properties closest to natural tooth enamel. Used for anterior restorations where the highest level of aesthetic refinement is required.
• Zirconia — the strongest ceramic material, used for posterior crowns and cases requiring maximum durability. Modern zirconia blocks offer significantly improved aesthetics compared to earlier generations, making them a genuinely versatile option.

The full shade range across all material types is maintained in stock at all times, so your clinician can match your restoration to your natural teeth without compromise or delay.

Three decades of CEREC excellence at Smile Solutions

Since 1995, Smile Solutions has invested continuously in CEREC technology, clinician training, and the clinical expertise that comes only from sustained, high-volume practice. Eleven CEREC units across the group. Clinicians with decades of individual CEREC experience. Tens of thousands of completed restorations. A patient experience that consistently converts first-timers into people who would not consider going anywhere else.

If you need a crown, an inlay, an onlay, or a ceramic restoration of any kind, the question is not really whether CEREC is right for you — it almost certainly is. The real question is whether the practice you choose has the depth of experience to deliver it well. At Smile Solutions, the answer to that question has been yes for thirty years.

Flexible payment plans

Smile Solutions offers flexible payment options so same-day ceramic restorations are accessible to every patient:

• Payright — 0% interest, fortnightly instalments from $150, terms from 3 to 30 months
• TLC — personal loan from $2,001 to $50,000, up to 84 months, fortnightly or monthly
• Superannuation compassionate access — for urgent health-related needs; the clinical team provides the required documentation

Flexible payment plan options are explicitly available for CEREC treatments. A Treatment Coordinator can guide you through the options that suit your circumstances.

Call 13 13 96 or visit smilesolutions.com.au to book your appointment.

Smile Solutions is at 220 Collins Street, Melbourne CBD, in the heritage-listed Manchester Unity Building — directly opposite Town Hall station on the Metro Tunnel line, with trains running every three to four minutes.