So when you purchase a complete CEREC system, the manufacturer’s of the various materials that you can mill, send samples of their materials. So the image above shows 4 different types of blocks, from left to rightt:
1. 3M Paradigm composite block
2. Vita Cad Temp- Temporary Acrylic block for temporary crowns
3. Ivoclar Emax Block- these turn to tooth color after a cycle in a porcelain oven
4. Vita Mark II Block- These are the gold standard for CEREC systems.
So here’s the deal, the new milling system the Sirona MCXL has a new way to connect the block to the miller, it requires a notch at the very bottom of the sprue, if you look at the image above you will see 4 blocks and the three on the right all have a little notch at the top of the sprue and the bottom of the sprue, but the 3M Paradigm block on the right you will only see one notch on the sprue… so this block doesn’t seat all the way to the bottom of the miller in the MCXL. Does 3M have new blocks with this fixed? I have no idea, thankfully I have a regular milling system too that allows me to use these blocks…
I wonder why 3M is clearing inventory on blocks most can’t use in the new system? I would love to know if there’s a way to use these blocks with the MCXL, and if 3M even knows this is a problem. It looks like from the software that I’m able to choose the 3M blocks to mill and the MCXL to mill it. So if everything looks like it should work, why would 3M send me blocks that don’t fit in the new miller?