If you’ve ever had a cracked tooth on a Thursday, you know the feeling. You call the dentist, find out they can see you that afternoon — great. Then comes the part nobody loves: the temporary crown, the putty impressions, and the reminder that you’ll need to come back in two to three weeks for the actual fix. Meanwhile, you’re eating on one side of your mouth and mentally crossing your fingers every time you take a bite of something that isn’t soup.
For a lot of people in New Albany, that’s just accepted as the way things work at the dentist. It doesn’t have to be.
At Jenkins Cosmetic and Family Dentistry, we do same-day crowns. We scan your tooth, design the crown, mill it in our office, and bond it permanently — in one visit, usually around two hours. You leave with a finished, permanent restoration, not a temporary. There’s no second appointment. No dietary restrictions for weeks. No sitting at home wondering whether the temp is about to come loose.
Here’s a closer look at how it actually works, and why more New Albany families are making this their first call when something goes wrong with a tooth.
What Happens During a Same-Day Crown Appointment
The process starts with a digital scan. Instead of biting down on a tray of putty material — which plenty of patients find uncomfortable and occasionally triggers a gag reflex — we use a small handheld wand called the CEREC® Primescan. It moves around your tooth and captures thousands of precise 3D data points in under a minute. No mess, no waiting for the impression to set, no distortion from the material shifting.
That digital model is used to design your crown on-screen. Dr. Jenkins can see the shape of the prepared tooth, the surrounding teeth, and the bite in detail, and he designs a crown that fits the space exactly. You can watch this happen if you’re curious — we can show you the design on the monitor before anything is milled.
Once the design is confirmed, the crown is milled from a ceramic block right here in the office. The CEREC® Prime Mill handles this — it typically takes 15 to 20 minutes. During that time, you’re just relaxing in the chair.
When it’s done, the crown is polished, any fine adjustments are made to the bite, and it’s bonded permanently in place. That’s the whole appointment.
Total time: around two hours. Total visits for this crown: one.
Is the Crown Actually as Good as a Lab-Made One?
This is the most common question we get, and it’s a fair one. The short answer is yes — and in some ways the fit is actually better.
Same-day crowns at our practice are milled from high-quality ceramic — the same class of material used in traditional lab-fabricated crowns. It’s strong, it’s fracture-resistant, and it looks like a natural tooth. We’re not cutting corners on the material to save time.
The fit is where same-day crowns have a real advantage. Traditional crowns rely on a physical putty impression being taken, sent to an outside lab, and fabricated based on that model. Putty impressions can distort slightly during setting, and there’s always a small margin of error in the process. With a digital scan, what we capture is what the crown is made from — precise, without physical variables introduced along the way.
A crown that fits well is one that lasts. Patients often comment that same-day crowns feel right immediately, without the adjustment period that sometimes comes with traditionally made restorations.
Why the Technology Matters Beyond Just Saving Time
We’ve invested in a range of in-office technology at Jenkins Cosmetic and Family Dentistry — not to have the newest gadgets, but because the right tools genuinely change the quality and comfort of the experience.
Beyond the CEREC® scanner and mill, we also use the SprintRay Midas and SprintRay Pro 2 — advanced 3D printers that allow us to create custom dental appliances, models, and restorations in-house with exceptional precision. Intraoral cameras let patients see exactly what the dentist is seeing, so treatment decisions feel informed rather than abstract. Digital X-rays with Schick and Dexis sensors give clear images with a fraction of the radiation of traditional film.
And for patients who are anxious about needles or the sound of a drill, our Solea® CO2 laser is worth mentioning here. For many crown preparations, we can use the laser instead of a traditional drill, with less need for anesthetic in the process. Patients who’ve had both experiences tend to strongly prefer the laser.
None of this is about impressing people with equipment lists. It’s about what the appointment actually feels like — and for most patients, a same-day crown at our practice is genuinely one of the least stressful dental experiences they’ve had.
Who Is a Good Candidate for a Same-Day Crown?
Same-day CEREC® crowns work well for most standard cases — cracked teeth, teeth with large existing fillings that have failed, teeth following a root canal, or teeth with decay that’s progressed beyond what a filling can address.
For older teenagers with fully erupted permanent teeth, same-day crowns are often a good option. For younger children, the clinical picture is different depending on tooth development, and we’d discuss alternatives at an exam.
If you’re not sure whether same-day is right for your situation, the easiest thing to do is come in for a look. Dr. Jenkins can assess the tooth, explain the options, and give you a clear recommendation before any treatment begins.
After Your Crown Is Placed
One of the things patients appreciate most about a permanent same-day crown is how straightforward the recovery is. Because there’s nothing temporary involved, you don’t have the usual list of precautions — avoid hard foods, avoid sticky foods, call us if it comes off, and so on.
We do recommend being careful with very hard or sticky foods for the first 24 hours, which is a standard precaution after any bonding procedure. After that, it’s a normal tooth. Brush it, floss around it, and come in for your regular cleanings.
With proper care, a well-placed ceramic crown can last 15 years or more. We check the fit and condition of existing restorations at every routine visit, so if anything changes over time, we’ll catch it early.
Booking an Appointment
Jenkins Cosmetic and Family Dentistry is at 750 Highlander Point Dr, Floyds Knobs, IN 47119. We serve New Albany, Greenville, and the surrounding areas. Office hours are Monday–Wednesday 8:30 AM–4:30 PM, Thursday 8:30 AM–3:30 PM, and Friday 8:00 AM–2:00 PM.
Call us at (812) 923-2200 or book online at jenkinsfamilydentistry.com. If you’ve got a tooth that needs attention, we’re happy to take a look and tell you what your options are — same day or otherwise.
Frequently Asked Questions
At our practice, we use advanced CAD/CAM and CEREC technology to eliminate messy impressions and temporary crowns entirely. That means we can complete major restorative treatments — like crowns or onlays — in a single appointment, so parents, children, and caregivers don’t have to take multiple trips away from work or school.
Yes — and that’s one of our favourite things to tell new patients. We digitally scan your tooth, design your custom crown on-screen, mill it right here in our office, and bond it permanently — all in one appointment. There’s no temporary crown to worry about, and no second visit required.
We believe in being fully transparent about our technology. Our office uses 3D digital scanners and in-office milling units, and we’re happy to walk you through the process before we begin. We also encourage you to read our patient reviews — you’ll hear directly from New Albany families about the efficiency, comfort, and longevity of their restorations.
Absolutely. We mill each restoration from high-quality medical-grade ceramic blocks that offer exceptional strength and fracture resistance. Because we digitally map every crown to your exact bite, it fits precisely and holds up to everyday chewing just as well as a traditional lab-made crown — often better, because the digital fit is more accurate.
The whole process typically takes around two hours in one sitting. We start with a comfortable digital scan (no putty trays), design your crown on-screen, mill it in our on-site lab, and permanently bond it in place — all before you leave our chair.
In many cases, yes. We assess each patient individually based on tooth development and clinical needs. For older teenagers with fully erupted permanent teeth, same-day restorations are often a great fit — one appointment instead of two is a significant win for busy student schedules.
That’s exactly what same-day restorations are designed for. We can see you, prepare the tooth, design and mill your custom crown, and permanently bond it — all in one visit. No temporary fix, no follow-up appointment, and no weeks of discomfort waiting in an outside lab.
Once we bond your permanent crown, it’s fully set and ready for normal use straight away — which is one of the biggest advantages over a temporary crown. We do recommend avoiding extremely hard or very sticky foods for the first 24 hours as a general precaution, but you won’t face the strict dietary restrictions that come with wearing a temporary crown.
We use a small, comfortable wand scanner that captures a precise 3D map of your tooth in seconds — no gooey putty, no gagging, and no holding still for minutes on end. Patients consistently tell us this is one of the most welcome improvements in their dental experience. The accuracy also means a better-fitting final restoration.
We’d love to help. You can book online through our website or call our front desk team directly — we’ll find a time that works for your schedule and walk you through exactly what to expect at your same-day restoration visit.
