Getting a dental crown used to mean two appointments spread over two to three weeks, a temporary crown in between, and the mild anxiety of hoping that the temporary didn’t pop off at an inconvenient moment. For most patients, it worked fine. It was just slow.
Same-day crowns change that timeline entirely. One appointment. Done.
At Wave Dentistry in White Rock, Dr. Joel Gaudet uses in-office CAD/CAM crown technology that designs, mills, and places a permanent ceramic crown in a single visit. It’s one of the more meaningful technology upgrades in modern dentistry, and it matters more than it might sound.
The Traditional Crown Process, for Context
The old process involved two clinical appointments with a waiting period in between. At the first appointment, the dentist in White Rock prepared the tooth, took a physical impression using a tray of putty-like material, and sent that impression to an external dental lab. A temporary crown was placed to protect the tooth while the permanent one was being fabricated, which typically took two to three weeks.
At the second appointment, the temporary was removed, the permanent crown was checked for fit and bite, adjusted if needed, and cemented. If adjustments required the lab to remake or significantly modify the crown, a third visit was sometimes necessary.
This process produced good results. But it required patients to manage their schedule around two appointments, protect a temporary crown for several weeks, and return for a second round of freezing and chairside work.
How Same-Day Crowns Work at Wave Dentistry
The technology that makes same-day crowns possible is called CAD/CAM, which stands for computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing. The workflow at Wave Dentistry looks like this:
The tooth is prepared the same way it would be for a traditional crown. Then, instead of a physical impression, a digital scan captures a precise 3D model of the prepared tooth and surrounding teeth. The scan takes a couple of minutes and is comfortable.
Dr. Gaudet uses that digital model to design the crown on screen, adjusting the shape, fit, and bite relationship before any material is touched. Once the design is confirmed, the file is sent to the in-office milling machine, which carves the crown from a solid block of ceramic in about 15 to 20 minutes.
The finished crown is tried in, checked, adjusted if needed, and cemented. The patient leaves with a permanent restoration on the same day.
Why This Actually Matters
The time savings are obvious. But there are a few less obvious advantages worth understanding.
No temporary crown means no risk of it loosening, falling off, or allowing bacteria to seep into the prepared tooth while waiting for the permanent one. Temporaries are designed to be short-term. The longer they’re in place, the more opportunity there is for things to go wrong. Removing that window removes that variable.
Digital impressions are more accurate than physical ones. Traditional putty impressions can distort during setting or removal. A digital scan captures the tooth geometry precisely every time, and that precision transfers directly to how well the crown fits.
Fewer appointments mean fewer injections, less time off work, fewer logistics to manage. For patients who find dental appointments stressful, reducing the number of them for a single procedure is a genuine quality-of-life difference. For patients with demanding schedules, it’s simply practical.
What Same-Day Crowns Are Made From
The ceramic blocks used for CAD/CAM crowns at Wave Dentistry are tooth-coloured and designed to match the surrounding natural teeth. They’re not the same as the metal-ceramic crowns that older patients may remember from previous work.
The material is strong enough for back teeth, which handle a significant chewing load, and aesthetic enough for front teeth, where appearance matters most. Most patients find the colour match good enough that distinguishing the crown from the adjacent teeth is difficult.
Are There Cases Where a Traditional Crown Is Still Better?
Sometimes. CAD/CAM crowns are well-suited for single-tooth restorations on most teeth. More complex restorations, particularly those involving multiple teeth, full-arch rehabilitation, or situations where the lab needs to hand-layer ceramic for specific aesthetic reasons, may still benefit from traditional lab fabrication.
Dr. Gaudet will advise which approach is clinically appropriate for your specific tooth before any treatment starts.
Book an Appointment at Wave Dentistry in White Rock
Wave Dentistry serves patients in White Rock and South Surrey, along with the surrounding communities of Morgan Crossing, Grandview Heights, Crescent Beach, and Ocean Park. The clinic accepts CDCP and all Canadian insurance plans, with direct billing offered for your convenience.
American insurance plans are not accepted.
If you need a crown or have been putting off addressing a damaged tooth, a consultation with Dr. Gaudet is the starting point.
Learn more about same-day crowns and restorative dentistry at Wave Dentistry.
