Lab Owner Makes the Most of Chairside Niche

When Massoudah Faiz opened her C&B laboratory a decade ago, she made working chairside a core part of her business model. “Previously when I worked at other labs, I saw frequent remakes due to lapses in communication or details getting lost in the translation of a written prescription,” explains Faiz, who emigrated from Afghanistan in 1989 and graduated from Gwinnett Technical College’s dental technology program in 1996. “For the few cases we were able to work on directly with the dentist and patient, I saw firsthand the value of working chairside, the decrease in remakes and increase in client satisfaction.”

Currently, her two-person lab in Atlanta services five regular customers and she works chairside for 70% of her cases. Her dentist-clients schedule consultation visits for complex cases so she’s in the office for the appointment; she meets with the patient to take shades and photos and to discuss his expectations for the restoration....