by our Health Correspondent

There comes a time when teeth have to be crowned or the old crowns replaced.  Many older Freemasons who have had their teeth crowned with an amalgam will need this replaced in time because of cracking. 

We all hate the thought of dental appointments, facing hours in a dental chair, many pain-killing injections and multiple visits.  There is now, however, a procedure enabling a crown to be completed in one appointment.  It is understood that there are only six dental surgeries in Victoria that are equipped with the necessary technology. 

It is German technology, the sort a clever country develops so that its future is not depended on a resources boom or the like, and wants to retain high and higher wages for producing less and less. 

For a replacement, after anesthetising the area, the old crown is removed.  The contact surface is then shaped and the contours recorded digitally rather than by a casting.  The dental surgeon designs the crown using a computer in the surgery, using the mating surface information already received.  The design data is then transmitted to a milling machine in another room. 

The dental surgeon selects a block from a range a ceramic blocks to match the colour of the other teeth, places it in the milling machine and starts the machining.  The milling takes about 5 minutes.  The new crown is then fitted and secured to the prepared tooth with a dental adhesive, the bite adjusted and the crown polished.