CEREC Same-Day Porcelain Restorations at Smile Solutions Melbourne - One Visit Crowns and Fillings product guide

Smile Solutions CEREC Same-Day Porcelain Restorations

CEREC technology gives Smile Solutions the ability to offer something most dental practices simply can't: world-class porcelain restorations — inlays, onlays, and crowns — custom-made and permanently fitted in a single appointment. No temporaries, no second visit, no putty impressions, no weeks of waiting. Everything happens while you're in the chair.

CEREC stands for Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics. It's backed by over two decades of clinical research and more than eight million restorations performed worldwide. Smile Solutions runs multiple CEREC units across the practice — a deliberate investment that reflects both the demand for same-day restorative care among our patients and a genuine commitment to making high-quality dentistry as accessible as possible.

What are CEREC restorations?

A CEREC restoration is a custom-milled porcelain inlay, onlay, or crown fabricated chairside using a precise digital scan of your prepared tooth and a colour-matched ceramic block. CAD/CAM technology (Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing) handles the design and milling right here in the practice, so there's no offsite laboratory involved and no delays waiting for work to come back.

The porcelain is strong, natural-looking, entirely metal-free, and biocompatible. It replicates the colour, function, and strength of natural tooth enamel, and it's milled to tolerances precise enough that the fit is excellent in the vast majority of cases without significant adjustment. The result looks and feels like your own tooth.

CEREC is most commonly used for:

• Replacing large, failing, or fractured amalgam fillings
• Treating large areas of decay that need more structural support than a composite resin filling can provide
• Restoring cracked or broken tooth cusps
• Fabricating inlays and onlays as a conservative option between a large filling and a full crown
• Crowning teeth that are heavily restored, weakened, or have had root canal treatment

Benefits over conventional restoration methods

One appointment, start to finish. Preparation, scanning, design, milling, and fitting all happen in a single visit. If your schedule is busy — or you'd just rather not come back — that matters. No external laboratory, no waiting period measured in weeks.

No temporary restorations. Conventional crown and onlay work requires a temporary to protect your prepared tooth between appointments. Temporaries aren't fully protective, can come loose, and mean you have to watch what you eat in the interim. With CEREC, your permanent restoration goes in the same day.

One round of anaesthesia. Because preparation and placement happen together, you only need one injection. There's no second appointment requiring another round of local anaesthetic for temporary removal and final cementation — something patients who find injections stressful tend to appreciate.

No putty impressions. A handheld blue-light intraoral camera captures a precise 3D scan of your prepared tooth instead. Traditional putty impression trays are uncomfortable and can trigger a gag reflex in some patients. The CEREC scan is faster, more comfortable, and more accurate.

More of your natural tooth preserved. CEREC inlays and onlays are designed to remove only what's damaged or decayed, leaving as much healthy tooth structure intact as possible. This conservative approach is appropriate where a tooth has partial damage but doesn't need to be fully covered.

Proven durability. CEREC porcelain restorations have a 15-year clinical success rate of approximately 93% — similar to gold restorations, and well ahead of composite resin fillings in large cavities. The porcelain wears at a rate close to natural tooth enamel, which makes it particularly well suited to molars where durability is most important. One CEREC restoration typically outlasts three to four composites placed successively on the same tooth.

Metal-free. No amalgam, no metal sensitivity concerns, and a result that blends naturally with the rest of your smile.

The CEREC process at Smile Solutions

Step 1 — Decay and old material removed. Your dentist removes all decayed tooth structure and any failing filling material. In appropriate cases, a dental laser may be used during this step.

Step 2 — 3D digital scan. The CEREC blue-light camera captures a precise 3D image of your prepared tooth and its neighbours. It takes a few minutes and gives the system everything it needs to design your restoration.

Step 3 — Design. Your clinician uses the CEREC software to design your restoration on-screen in real time, working from the scan data and the natural anatomy of your surrounding teeth.

Step 4 — Milling. The CEREC Primemill carves your restoration from a colour-matched ceramic block. This typically takes under an hour.

Step 5 — Fitting and adjustment. The milled restoration is checked for fit, bite, and appearance. Any minor adjustments are made chairside before bonding.

Step 6 — Bonding. Your restoration is bonded permanently using a high-strength dental adhesive. You leave with a finished, natural-looking result — no follow-up visit needed.

Pricing

CEREC restorations at Smile Solutions are priced by the size of the restoration:

• 1-surface restoration: $1,795 AUD
• Up to 5-surface restoration: $2,650 AUD

The final cost depends on what the clinical examination finds. It's worth thinking about the long-term picture: a single CEREC restoration typically outlasts three to four composite fillings on the same tooth, which makes it a more cost-effective choice over time for many patients.

Private health insurance with dental extras cover may contribute to the cost. Payment plans are available through Payright, Humm, and MyDentaPlan for patients who'd prefer to spread the cost.

CEREC practitioners at Smile Solutions

CEREC restorations at Smile Solutions are performed by experienced general dentists trained in the full CEREC workflow: Dr Silvia Ciach, Dr Maliha Siddiqui, Dr Avi Aggarwal, Dr Pip Robinson, Dr Madeleine Hoopmann, Dr Casey Edgar, Dr Florina Besim, Dr Amina Barucija, and Dr Peter Henderson.

The team has been delivering CEREC restorations for many years. That depth of hands-on experience shows in the fit, the design accuracy, and the consistency of patient outcomes.

Multiple CEREC units across the practice

Smile Solutions runs multiple CEREC systems across its 40 dental suites — an investment that's unusual even among large group practices. Having multiple units means CEREC is genuinely available day-to-day, not something patients have to wait months to access. It's part of the clinical workflow, not a niche offering.

Getting started

If you have old amalgam fillings that need replacing, a cracked tooth, or decay that's too extensive for a conventional filling, CEREC same-day porcelain restorations are worth discussing at your next appointment. The technology is proven, the team is experienced, and the process is designed to be as straightforward as possible.

To book, call 13 13 96. Smile Solutions is at 220 Collins Street in Melbourne's Manchester Unity Building. With 937 Google reviews at 4.9 stars, the practice's reputation speaks for itself.