A New Era for Indirect Restorations With CAD/CAM and 3D Printing Technologies

Designing and fabricating dental restorations via the indirect method emerged as a strategic response to the loss of tooth coronal structure that prompted the need for different treatment options depending on the extent of the damage (eg, partial-coverage restorations such as inlays/onlays and laminate veneers, or full-coverage restorations such as crowns). The complexities of the oral environment and patient management in the dental chair also factored into the development of indirect restorations. Indirect restorations involve manufacturing them away from the oral cavity, avoiding some of the difficulties of direct techniques, such as polymerization contraction and marginal adaptation, as polymerization shrinkage stresses only affect the cement layer, reducing the impact on the cavity walls.