Your time is valuable, and so is your comfort. For decades, getting a dental crown meant at least two appointments spread weeks apart—one to prepare the tooth and take impressions, and another to remove a temporary crown and seat the permanent one fabricated at an outside lab. Same-day dentistry changes that equation entirely. With Glidewell's fastmill.io™ In-Office Mill, we can design, mill, and place a custom restoration during a single visit, so you can walk out with your permanent crown the same day you walk in.
This is possible because the fastmill.io brings laboratory-grade milling directly into our practice. It uses technologies originally developed for the production floor of one of the world's largest dental labs, replicated in a compact, reliable form that has about the same footprint as a microwave. The result is a streamlined experience that doesn't compromise on the quality, fit, or durability you'd expect from a crown crafted at a traditional lab.
The traditional crown process has a few well-known inconveniences: a temporary crown that can feel bulky or come loose, weeks of waiting, and a second appointment to remove the temporary and seat the final restoration. An in-office milling unit lets us skip over the temporary restoration and the second visit. Instead, we capture diagnostic images, design the restoration, craft the crown in-office, and place it in just one trip to the office.
Beyond the convenience, a same-day workflow carries a clinical benefit as well. The digital design system reduces human error between the office and an outside lab, which helps ensure higher-quality, more precisely crafted results. Fewer hand-offs and fewer manual steps mean fewer opportunities for small discrepancies to creep into the final fit.
The process begins much like any crown: a careful evaluation of the tooth, along with digital imaging to capture its exact contours and how it relates to the surrounding bite. If the tooth needs root canal therapy or other groundwork first, those steps are completed before restoration. Once the tooth is prepared, an intraoral scan replaces the messy impression material of the past.
From there, the design is created chairside. Glidewell's design software uses CrownAI™ and MarginAI™ technology, drawing on a digital restoration database built from data on millions of crowns, to generate ready-to-use design proposals in seconds. The dentist reviews and refines that proposal—checking anatomy, contacts, and margins—before sending it to the mill.
The mill then does its work, producing a full-contour, fully sintered zirconia crown in roughly half an hour. Because it is the only chairside mill capable of producing fully sintered crowns without a separate oven, there is no additional sintering step to wait through, and the dentist can attend to other tasks while your restoration is being milled. When it is ready, the crown is checked for fit, color, and bite, then polished and cemented or bonded into place.
Material choice matters as much in same-day dentistry as it does with lab-made crowns, and the fastmill.io is built around proven options. Its signature material is BruxZir® NOW, a fully sintered zirconia for in-office use from the leading brand of full-contour zirconia in the industry. Zirconia is prized for its strength, which makes it especially well suited to molars and other teeth that bear heavy chewing forces.
Aesthetics aren't sacrificed for that strength. For front teeth and other visible areas, BruxZir Esthetic NOW offers a highly translucent zirconia that has become a preferred option for anterior restorations. The system also supports additional materials, such as CAMouflage® NOW for inlays, onlays, and veneers, and BioTemps® NOW for precise-fitting temporary restorations when those are needed. During planning, your dentist will weigh the tooth's location, the forces it must withstand, and your cosmetic goals to recommend the material that fits your case best.
A faster process is only worthwhile if the result lasts, and that is the standard the fastmill.io is designed to meet. Restorations made from in-office milling blocks have the same toughness and precision fit as zirconia restorations made in the lab—the speed comes from a smarter workflow, not from cutting corners on the restoration itself.
As with any crown, attention to the bite is part of getting it right. A well-fitted crown restores the tooth's anatomy so it contributes properly to chewing and maintains the alignment of neighboring teeth, while correct contacts and contours make it easier to keep the area clean. Any minor adjustments to the bite are made at placement, so the crown feels comfortable from the moment you leave.
A milled crown is cared for exactly like any other crown. Daily brushing, flossing around the crown's margins, and routine professional cleanings help guard against decay at the edge and keep the surrounding gums healthy. Avoiding habits like chewing ice or using your teeth as tools reduces the risk of damage, and patients who grind or clench may benefit from a protective night guard.
If a crown ever feels loose, uncomfortable, or changes in appearance, let us know promptly—timely attention usually allows us to preserve the restoration and the tooth beneath it.
At The Local Dentist, investing in the Glidewell fastmill.io reflects our commitment to combining advanced technology with individualized care, so you receive a durable, natural-looking restoration without the wait of multiple appointments. If you'd like to learn more about same-day crowns, whether you're a candidate, or what to expect from treatment, please contact us for more information.
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