Even though CEREC is trying to portray itself as an open system. If I had to give a feedback, I would definitely tell you it isn't open enough. Even though CEREC can surely export its data to STL format, you have to jump through many hoops in order to do so.
Below are some tricks that I've learned to make CEREC easier to use in daily pratice:
At least one restoration has to be chosen
Really, just choose any restoration on any tooth that you see fit in the Administration tab and the STL option will show up once you have switched back to Model tab.
Buccal scan must present when you have both upper and lower jaw scan
CEREC SW requires the buccal scan when you have scanned both jaw so it can set the correct coordinates in STL files. It would be near impossible or not very pratical in some cases. For example an edentulous opposing jaw, in such cases, you can copy the current case into two more cases.
You'd then delete :
- The upper jaw and buccal scan in one case
- The lower jaw and buccal scan in the other case
- Now you can 2 separate STL file from each surface scan
And a little side note: Please do not create new Patient by adding a number 1, 2, 3,... into their Last name or First name. That would make your patient list looks really messy. You'd instead add new case into the same patient which a very specific name like "duplicate upper jaw", "crown 46", "10 veneers upper".
When none of the above works
When all hopes are lost and none of the above would work. Before scheduling the patient to retake the scan, try and restart your CEREC computer first. Save your case, close all programs and restart your computer. I've found that restarting fixed almost all weird issues with computer software in general.
Thank you very much and hope this would make your CEREC SW experiences a little bit easier.
