Chairside CAD/CAM Makes U.S. Debut

October 1986, iecdt, New York City: Crowds of technicians attended Dr. Francois Duret’s lecture during which he demonstrated his chairside CAD/CAM system for the first time in the U.S. Based on micro-milling technology used to make titanium microchips for computers and missile parts, the system featured a laser scanner and milling machine that could fabricate crowns, inlays, onlays and up to three-unit bridges out of Dicor® material.

Touted as the system that “has the potential to change the way dentistry is done as we know it,” some attendees were concerned that chairside CAD/CAM would render laboratories obsolete and that an entire generation of technicians would be out of work.

While those dire predictions haven’t come to fruition, some laboratories have seen an impact on their workload, specifically fewer posterior zirconia restorations. To coexist with the technology, some laboratory owners are offering these clients value-added services—like...