Empress CAD-CAM Veneers Vs Empress Esthetic Veneers?

CAD CAM can be used to create porcelain veneers by trimming a mono bloc of porcelain into a thin veneer. The trouble is the veneer will have uniform shape and colour and will look lifeless.

A technician can create a veneer that has depth, colour, clarity etc. to match your natural teeth.

CAD CAM is ok for posterior fillings and crowns but at the front you need the artistic hand of a technician.

CAD/CAM is a milling process where a large rectangular ingot of porcelain can be milled into any shape.  Many dentists are buying expensive milling machines for their offices so that they can deliver restorations the same day as the tooth is prepared.  Usually a digital scanner is used to take what used to be called an impression.  The digital scan is transferred to the milling machine a veneer/onlay/crown can be produced within an hour.  CAD/CAM milling technology can be used for many porcelain types including Empress™.  These office milled restorations are monolithic porcelain meaning only one color.  There is limited ability to personalize/match these restorations.

Pressed Empress™ veneers/onlays/crowns are fabricated in the traditional method of using a lost wax pattern.  A lab technican will create a wax replica of the final restoration and invest it into a special plaster.  The wax is then burned out with high heat and melted Empress™ is forced into the void.  The fit is better with pressed restorations  than with CAD/CAM milled restorations.  Lab created restorations also can have supplemental porcelain layering done to customize a more perfect shade match.  If you have the ability to come back for a second appointment weeks later, you will get a restoration that fits better and probably will look better.

Both Empress products are good products. The CAD/CAM product is mainly used in a machine that mills the veneers -- some dentists do these chairside. The main difference will be in aesthetics - and this difference depends on who makes the veneers. The best bet is to go to an experienced cosmetic dentist who uses an experienced master ceramist -- they will be able to choose the products best for your case.

Cad/Cam technology is leading many pathways in dentistry. Basically first type of veneers is fabricated from a ceramic block and later is colored and glazed. Nowadays they can offer multiple blocks with different shade for incisal edge and coronal part. In the second choice when veneers are fabricated by the lab and are pressed, it allows to get more art and personality to these veneers. I would prefer the second option and we do them for our patients.

For the most part Empress® is being replaced by eMax. Same company, but eMax is much stronger. There are pros and cons to each, so the goal must be clear.
Empress CAD CAM is milled from a block and Empress Esthetic is a pressed ceramic. They essentially are identical, just different processing.