FAQ
What is CAD design for crowns?
A straight answer first, then the context behind it, from the technicians who do the work.
THE SHORT ANSWER
CAD (computer-aided design) for crowns is the digital process of building a 3D restoration model from a scan of the prepared tooth. A technician uses software to sculpt the crown's anatomy, contacts, and occlusion before the file is sent to a mill. Most labs complete CAD design in 1-4 hours; the milled crown follows within the same production day.
THE CONTEXT
What sits behind it
Before CAD, technicians waxed every crown by hand on a physical die. CAD replaced that step with a digital equivalent: the scan of the prep becomes a 3D mesh, and the technician designs the crown on screen, adjusting marginal fit, interproximal contacts, and cusp anatomy with precision that is repeatable case to case. The output is a standardized mill file, not a hand-formed wax pattern that varies with the technician's fatigue level.
For general dentists running a restorative practice, the practical effect is consistency. A well-executed CAD workflow produces crowns where the margin fits the die to within 50-100 microns, reducing the remake calls that cost chair time and reschedule slots. At Dani Dental, every crown file is reviewed by the technician assigned to the case before it goes to the mill, not handed off to an anonymous queue.
CAD also enables material choices that hand-waxing cannot support. Monolithic zirconia and high-translucency zirconia blocks require a precisely milled internal surface to seat correctly; those blocks cannot be carved by hand. So CAD is not just a workflow preference, it is the prerequisite for the ceramic and zirconia restorations that dominate modern posterior and anterior case work.
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This question is one piece of a larger workflow. The pillar page covers materials, turnaround, and how we build the case to your specification.
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