A study of Maryland general dentists found that age, race, and professional experience influence the adoption of chairside restorative CAD/CAM systems. The dominant CAD/CAM user profile was a white male, ages 50 to 70, with over 10 years of experience. Dentist-reported benefits included reduced overhead costs, improved productivity, and better restoration quality control.
- The typical CAD/CAM user profile is a white male dentist ages 50 to 70 with over 10 years of experience working in urban private practices.
- Most adopters (65%) supplemented their DDS/DMD with continuing education in digital dentistry.
- Key reported benefits include 54% time savings on indirect restorations, 82% satisfactory marginal fit, and 79% sufficient occlusion.
- Dentists adopted the technology primarily to reduce overhead costs, increase productivity, and improve restoration quality control.
- Approximately 90% of users acknowledged that training and practice are necessary to achieve proficiency with CAD/CAM workflows.
Age, race, and the level of professional experience appeared to determine whether a general dentist will use chairside restorative CAD/CAM systems, according to a U.S. study published recently in Clinical Dental Journal.
Dentists who use this technology have reported advantages, including the ability to better manage restoration quality, the authors wrote.
“Overall positive perceptions towards CAD-CAM technology suggest a promising future for its continued integration into practice-based restorative dentistry,” wrote the authors, led by Dr. Sami Abu Alhuda of the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in Baltimore (Clin Dent J, November 2026, Vol. 2, 100008).
Knowing how many clinicians have adopted in-house CAD/CAM technology can provide important insights into the current state of technological integration within dentistry. Understanding the factors that affect adoption can help the field identify gaps and opportunities for improving it.
To explore the implementation of chairside restorative CAD/CAM systems, which were defined as those applied for fixed dental prostheses on natural teeth, among general dentists working at private practices, a 23-question cross-sectional survey was conducted. For this study, 70 general dentists who were members of the Maryland Academy of General Dentistry participated, according to the study.
The analysis revealed that the most common profile of a CAD/CAM user was a white man (61%) between the ages of 50 and 70 (51%) with more than 10 years of professional experience (70%), the authors wrote.
Furthermore, most of the dentists had their dentistry education and training supplemented with continuing education training in digital dentistry (65%) and practiced in urban areas (66%), they wrote.
Dentists reported that they adopted the technology as a means of reducing overhead costs, increasing productivity, and gaining better control of restoration quality. Approximately 54% reported that CAD/CAM technology cuts the time necessary to deliver indirect restorations. About 82% of dentists revealed that it offers a marginal fit that is satisfactory. Furthermore, the system produces proximal contact adequacy (77%) and provides sufficient occlusion (79%).
Finally, about 90% acknowledged that training and practice were needed to achieve proficiency in a restorative CAD/CAM workflow, the authors wrote.
Nonetheless, the study had limitations, including that the data were self-reported, which can introduce bias, they wrote.
“Despite these challenges, our results highlight that CAD-CAM technology can ultimately lead to improved patient care and satisfaction, provided that dental professionals are well-trained to maximize its potential advantages,” Alhuda and team concluded.
