Dr Salim Zerguine
Dentist, digital dentistry and surgery

In a traditional digital dental practice, care involves several different people. The practitioner examines and prepares the tooth. A designer, often in an external lab, designs the restoration using software based on the file received. A prosthetist manufactures it. The practitioner receives and places it.

This system is efficient, but it relies on a separation between the clinical decision and its technical execution. The designer and prosthetist work with a file, not with a patient. They don’t see the occlusion, they don’t know the nuances that led to one preparation over another. They do their best with what they receive.

Since 2013, I have been practicing a fully integrated workflow. The person treating you is also the one who designs your restoration, the one who manufactures it in the clinic, and the one who places it. Each step remains a direct extension of the initial clinical decision, without intermediaries.

This is a demanding mode of practice. It requires cross-mastery of three usually separate professions: clinical practice, computer-aided design, and in-clinic manufacturing. It’s not the easiest path. It’s the one that allows every decision to remain consistent from diagnosis to placement, in a continuity that a delegated workflow cannot offer.

This configuration remains rare in French-speaking Switzerland. The vast majority of practices that perform digital dentistry operate with a partial workflow, with design and manufacturing delegated to an external digital laboratory. A complete workflow executed by the same practitioner remains an exception.

What this concretely changes for the patient: a single person responsible from start to finish, a crown, veneer, or restoration often completed in a single visit, and a clinical decision that is never reformulated by an intermediary.

I have been using CEREC since 2013—at a time when the vast majority of practices in French-speaking Switzerland had not yet integrated this technology into their daily practice.

This is not a minor detail: over ten years of treated cases, refined protocols, complex situations managed. Digital dentistry extends clinical expertise—it does not replace it.

Implant surgery and complex extractions have been an integral part of my practice for over 23 years. Every surgical indication is rigorously evaluated—the decision to intervene is always medically justified, never systematic.

Aesthetic dentistry is not just about appearance. A successful restoration must be functional, stable over time and integrated into the entire dentition. This is the balance in which I work.

Emergencies are handled with the same rigor as scheduled treatments. Provide rapid relief—then offer a lasting solution, not just a temporary treatment.

Dental anxiety is a common and legitimate reality. My approach is based on explanation, predictability of the process and constant presence throughout the treatment. Trust is built—it is not imposed.