Those unfamiliar with the subtleties of the process will find it challenging to create dentures or implants that fit properly and look beautiful. Dentistry is not something that can be taught over the course of a weekend. There are many factors involved in the creation of a set of teeth that extend beyond the dental laboratory. When creating the greatest possible dentures, one must consider materials, anatomy, psychology, and more.
It can be difficult to find a dental laboratory that provides consistent quality. These ten fundamentals can help you distinguish between an average and an exceptional laboratory.
Are you satisfied with the consistency and quality of your current dental lab? Or, are you a novice practitioner seeking a lab partner but unclear of what questions to ask?
It might be difficult to find a dental laboratory that can consistently deliver dental restorations that employ safe, durable materials, appear natural, fit properly, and do not compromise the patient’s other teeth.
The following ten fundamentals of excellence can help you distinguish between an average and an exceptional laboratory.
Ask potential lab partners if they have implemented these elements into their procedures when assessing the quality of your present laboratory.
10 Fundamentals of Excellence
- Quality Management Checklist
- Master Technician heads a small, dedicated account team.
- Your Custom Digital Configuration Saved For Practice
- Restorations Designed using a Microscope
- Uncut Solid Model for Precision and Accuracy
- Hand Polish and Pumice prior to and following glaze
- Utilize the most innovative ceramic materials and processes
- Two-step procedure for measuring die stone
- Utilization of Alloy Exam Dies
- CAD/CAM Digital Imaging for Consistency Assurance and Saving Chair Time
Quality Management Checklist
Include a quality assurance checklist with each case in your existing lab? The inclusion of this checklist with every case demonstrates a laboratory’s dedication to ensuring its procedures are efficient and uniform.
To locate labs and lab technicians eager to take responsibility for and stand by their work, seek for a lab that needs a master technician to sign off on each completed checklist.
A signature of responsibility conveys pride and confidence in each restoration’s consistency, quality, and outcome.
This is a clear indication that the laboratory and its quality assurance personnel ensure quality work.
A signature of responsibility also indicates a willingness to assume responsibility for any problems.
This enables swift resolutions and improved outcomes for all parties.
Denttree is dedicated to quality control. The following checklist has been established to assist you in comprehending the quality standards we adhere to when designing, manufacturing, and shipping your items.
Small, Devoted Account Group
Working in collaboration with your lab partner requires extensive communication. Consider a dental laboratory that provides a single, immediately accessible point of contact for technical concerns and case planning conversations.
A devoted team guarantees that team members fully comprehend their assigned cases and can work on each case with minimal interruptions.
Your small, devoted staff also facilitates simple, continuous communication between the laboratory team and the dentist office for each case.
Your team leader should be a master dental technician with the knowledge, experience, and authority to discuss cases with the dentist office as well as train the laboratory team.
When issues regarding a case or the need for case planning arise, there should be no ambiguity about who to contact.
There should be no passing from person to person in search of a source of information.
Denttree is a small dental laboratory that specializes in porcelain and sophisticated ceramic restorations. We have a specialized account team lead by a master technician who will oversee your case personally from consultation to delivery. Our team is dedicated to providing you with the greatest quality service, allowing you to concentrate on running your business.
Saved Settings Specific to Your Practice
Does your dental laboratory store your digital preferences? These are practice-specific parameters that will be utilized by the dental laboratory. Not every laboratory will retain these settings.
Some laboratories use standard parameters to each repair.
Once you are satisfied with your digital settings, you should save them for future use. Your patients will experience greater uniformity if your personalized settings are stored.
Inquire if your dental lab partner will store your digital settings and use them for future restorations.
Using bespoke settings permits a dental laboratory to adjust and fine-tune a client’s specific dental requirements for a more exact and pleasant fit.
These are the most fundamental digital custom settings saved by top dental laboratories:
- Digital contact settings
- Occlusal settings
- Internal fit adjustments
- Microscope-Generated Dental Restorations
Did you know that the majority of dental laboratories do not utilize microscopes to create your stents? Due to the high cost of microscopes, the majority of dental labs employ high poglas to reduce expenses.
Restorations created under a microscope of 10x magnification are significantly more accurate and exact.
Loops are unable of achieving the same level of detail as microscopes.
Look for a dental laboratory that has invested in 10 high-powered microscopes and incorporates them into their daily operations. Your dental laboratory’s investment in microscopes demonstrates their dedication to providing you and your patients with the finest details and a perfect fit.
Denttree is a dental lab that offers high-quality dental products.
Our staff of highly trained dental technicians has received intensive training to guarantee they possess all the necessary abilities to confidently conduct your treatment. We believe in offering an outstanding service at reasonable rates, which is why we only utilize premium materials supplied by some of the industry’s most respected brands.
Uncut Solid Model for Precision and Accuracy
Frequently, dental restorations are manufactured by sectioning a cast model of a patient’s dental impression.
The sectioning of a model facilitates the manipulation of restorations by a lab worker.
However, a restoration created on a sectioned model can compromise the accuracy of the final fit.
A less-than-precise fit increases the amount of time a patient spends in a dental appointment waiting for the dentist to modify the fit in the chair.
Consider working with a lab that creates restorations from uncut solid models. An uncut model is the closest possible representation of a patient’s mouth. This enables more accurate and exact final fittings and lowers the possibility of remakes and restorations with poor fit.
Polish and Pumice Prior to and Following Glazing
Most dental facilities construct their crowns from zirconium dioxide metal. On the current market, zirconia offers the optimal balance of durability and natural beauty.
After milling zirconia, each zirconium dioxide crown is glazed and baked in an oven.
Glazing the zirconia is the process of putting a smooth, shining coating to the surface of the zirconia to provide the appearance of a natural tooth on the crown.
Under a microscope, the glaze applied to a zirconia crown resembles sandpaper, with porcelain particles bound together by a binder.
After glazing, polishing the surface of the crown by hand produces a more natural-looking tooth.
However, the glazing on a zirconia crown progressively wears away, leaving unglazed zirconia in its place.
Without the glaze, the zirconia crown’s surface is coarse and uneven.
At this time, the zirconia crown’s surface will begin to erode the opposing healthy tooth, resulting in harm to the patient’s existing teeth.
By selecting a dental laboratory that hand polishes and pumices restorations prior to glazing, you can protect your clients’ teeth and produce long-lasting results.
Before glazing the crown, high-quality laboratories will polish the zirconia crown surface until it is smooth and lustrous.
If this procedure is conducted first and the glaze ultimately fades away, the remaining polished zirconia surface will not hurt the adjacent teeth.
This procedure of polishing and pumicing a crown prior to and following glazing is eternal. The surface will never become rough again unless the teeth are ground in the chair. Once the glaze has worn away, the surface of the zirconia crown will stay smooth and will not hurt adjacent teeth.
The majority of labs do not polish the crown’s zirconia surface before to or after glazing. This is a significant distinction between an average and great laboratory.
Market’s Finest Ceramics
For the most natural appearance, ensure that your lab offers various full zirconia crown alternatives, including the most aesthetically pleasing and durable full translucent zirconia.
A complete translucent zirconia has the appearance of pressed ceramic and the strength of solid zirconia. For optimal esthetics, it is more translucent at the incisal edge, where it should be, and less translucent as it approaches the gingiva.
Offering translucent, layered zirconia for your patients’ dental restorations can enhance esthetics and patient satisfaction.
In addition, your lab should provide the option of constructing your anterior restorations using a multi-powder segmented porcelain build-up approach to achieve a natural appearance.
The absence of this phase will result in cookie crowns devoid of individuality.
Two-Step Procedure for Measuring Die Stone
The ratio of stone to liquid must be precise when a dental laboratory pours a model from a dental impression. If the measurement is inaccurate, the resulting model will be inaccurate.
Ensure that your dental lab weighs its stone and water using computer scales. This avoids any fluctuation in the uniformity of the materials and ensures that every model has the same expansion rate.
You should also verify that your lab’s die stone measurements undergo a two-step quality control process.
Step 1
Each box of die stone that is shipped to the lab from the manufacturer is subject to a quality control examination.
Using their computer scales, they will mix a test batch of stone and measure its expansion for that box.
Then, they will compare the expansion rate of the combination to the expansion rate indicated on the box’s side.
This procedure ensures that the manufacturer’s die stone is of superior quality.
Step 2
The second quality control checkpoint ensures that each model employs an exact ratio of die stone to liquid.
This step should be performed automatically by technicians.
The second quality hurdle is automatically met by a dental laboratory that uses computer scales to determine the precise amount of stone needed for each imprint.
Utilization of Alloy Exam Dies
Utilize an alloy testing die to verify the precision of their investing and casting process.
Each month, the lab will utilize the examination die as a point of reference to verify the growth of their investment used to cast your crowns, as not all casting investments expand uniformly and require liquid changes to compensate.
The advantage of an alloy inspection die is that it does not change size or become worn. This approach guarantees the crown’s structural integrity and precise final fit.
CAD/CAM Digital Imaging
Most, if not all, dental laboratories use CAD/CAM digital imaging. When selecting a dental laboratory, search for one that employs five cameras as opposed to the standard three.
The higher resolution of five cameras allows for a better-fitting crown than the resolution of three cameras.
This implies improved occlusion and a more comfortable fit. Additionally, a better resolution will make it simpler to discern the minute characteristics of each tooth.
Traditional and Digital Impressions
In the past decade, the usage of intraoral scanners to create digital imprints has increased significantly. Digital impressions currently account for roughly 20% of all impressions. This is anticipated to increase as practitioners become more proficient using intraoral scanners.
Your dental laboratory should be able to handle both digital and conventional impressions.
The majority of the quality of digital impressions is determined by the correct use of intraoral scanners and the amount of time spent acquiring complete, high-quality images of the mouth.
Work closely with the maker of your intraoral scanners to ensure that you and your staff are appropriately trained in their use. If there are concerns with the image quality, your dental lab can inform you and work with you to resolve them.
When done correctly, digital impressions can save substantial time and effort for both the lab and the practitioner.
However, digital technology is currently incapable of capturing the intricate intricacies of implant or hybrid denture restorations. Traditional impressions continue to be the most precise and optimum option for these circumstances.
Whether you choose traditional or digital impressions, a dental laboratory that employs five-camera digital imaging will allow for the most effective restorations.
A superior lab partner is essential for patient happiness, reducing chair time, and enhancing your reputation.
When selecting a dental laboratory, take the time to inquire whether it adheres to these ten standards of excellence.
- Quality Management Checklist
- Master Technician heads a small, dedicated account team.
- Your Repairs Made Under Microscope
- Uncut Solid Model for Precision and Accuracy
- Hand Polish and Pumice prior to and following glaze
- Utilize the Most Innovative Ceramic Materials and Methods
- Two-step procedure for measuring die stone
- Utilization of Alloy Exam Dies
- CAD/CAM Digital Imaging for Consistency Assurance and Saving Chair Time
If these fundamentals of excellence are present, your dental laboratory has proved it has the processes in place to offer you with consistently high-quality outcomes that will transform your patients’ lives.
In order to choose the best dental lab, it is necessary to comprehend all aspects of the industry. When armed with this knowledge and approaching your search with it in mind, selecting a dental lab can be relatively simple. Before getting into contracts or agreements with them, you should conduct research and ensure that you have clearly specified your specifications.
Denttree is the greatest option when seeking for a provider of prototypes and dental crowns and bridges.
