Partnerships between dental offices and labs can result in high-quality prosthetics. Dental labs offer a standard facility with the equipment and personnel you need to make custom veneers, crowns, bridges, and dentures. They also fabricate custom abutments, smile shapers, and various dental prosthetics. Here’s how offices and labs collaborate in restorative dentistry:
Consultations
The collaborative interaction between dental labs and offices begins with a consultation. As the dentist, assess your patient’s goals and determine the restoration they need. Make details of the restoration and take high-quality impressions using digital scanners or physical molds. During the initial consultation, you can ask the lab about the restorations they create, the lab software they use, and fabrication timelines. Discuss scanning techniques, file formats, uploading procedures, material choices, and shade preferences. Determine the communication channels you’ll use throughout the process and take note of any professional input the lab provides.
Impressions
Restorative dentistry involves fabricating custom prosthetics based on the impressions of your client’s teeth and oral anatomy. Modern digital scanners offer higher precision than classic moldings, but labs can work with both types of impressions. High-quality impressions feature all details, including size, shape, alignment, and soft tissue contours. The impressions are uploaded directly from the digital scanner. You can also upload them via email or the lab’s portal.
Dental impressions should feature detailed prescriptions, including the type of restoration, material choice, and shade preference. Detailed prescriptions and open communication allow the lab to produce high-quality prosthetics that fit your functional and aesthetic requirements. You can also collaborate with the lab to adjust the impressions and correct errors.
Try-ins
Before fabrication, the lab reviews the impressions and prescriptions. They will consult you for further clarification and instructions if necessary. Labs may also request patient photos and additional input to make prosthetics that meet your fit, function, and appearance requirements. Once they have all the fabrication information, they can provide mock-ups for approval. Review the mock-ups carefully to identify and communicate necessary changes.
Mock-ups and prototypes are usually used when creating veneers, crowns, and custom abutments. For dentures and smile aligners, the lab may provide try-ins, which are temporary restorations. The try-ins give your clients a chance to test the prosthetics or appliances and provide feedback. Communicate the feedback and necessary adjustments to the lab to enhance the quality and performance of the final fabrication.
Fabrication
Dental laboratories have lab technicians trained in creating various prosthetics. They create the restoration using specialized CAD and CAM systems and 3D printers. Labs also have strict quality protocols to fabricate durable, safe, high-quality prosthetics that match the instructions you provide. Technicians inspect the product for errors and issues and only send it when it passes a final inspection. You can then seat the restoration at your office.
Placement involves fitting the dentures, bonding veneers to the front of the teeth, or installing custom abutments. If everything was fabricated precisely, the prosthetic should fit without any issues. You can make minor adjustments to achieve a proper fit. Send the appliance back to the lab if it needs extra work, like relining or smoothing sharp edges. You can also maintain regular communication to update the lab on your client’s progress and feedback. Continuous feedback helps to refine the process and enhance the quality of future work and interactions.
Partner With Reputable Dental Labs Today
Collaborating with a dental lab allows you to achieve high-quality restorations and improve patient care through customization. Dental labs allow dentists to quickly send scans or physical impressions in the mail or through their computers, speeding up the turnaround times. Contact dental labs today to find out more about the services they provide.