The future of dentistry is inevitably digital - with cutting-edge digital solutions for impression scanning, treatment planning, and digital manufacturing. It is already transforming many dental practices and Dr de Villiers believes that digital solutions have become a necessary consideration for any dental business. Treetops Dental Practice is embracing Digital Dentistry and already have a Dental cone beam (CT) scanner at the practice, which is in use every day and a CEREC machine which enables the clinicians to manufacture and fit crowns and inlays on the same day.
CEREC
Cerec is a new manufacturing technique that is designed to make it much easier to 
produce and fit made-to-measure crowns – it uses a new type of technology known as ‘CAD-CAM’ (Computer-assisted Design Computer-assisted Manufacture). It is a significant advance in traditional crown-making approaches.
Instead of the dentist taking impressions and sending them to a laboratory, using Cerec technology the dentist designs a digital 3D image of your tooth and crown with precise measurements.
Once the final design is ready, a milling machine carves a replica of the design to make a crown out of a single ceramic block.
The advantages of CEREC is that there is no need for additional appointments as the 
crowns are manufactured and fitted on the same day, there is no temporary crown to deal with whilst the permanent one is being made, and the patient does not have to return for another appointment saving them time.
Cone Beam Scanner
A dental cone beam (CB) CT scanner uses x-rays and computer-processed x-ray information to produce 
3D cross-sectional images of the jaws and teeth. This gives a wealth of diagnostic information ensuring precision and safety in all aspects of dentistry from endodontics to Implant placement.
It provides fast and accurate images of structures within the mouth – nerve paths, bone structures, and the soft tissues - and is invaluable when planning difficult reconstructive surgery.
It can produce almost 600 individual images in just one appointment, making it a highly efficient way to collect everything required to plan dental treatment, and to enhance in- chair dental examinations and diagnosis.