Maine Dental Lab Does Double Duty as Denture Clinic

In 2003, Twin City Dental Lab was at a crossroads.The 12-person, family-owned removable lab in Maine was seeing a noticeable dip in its metal framework and acrylic partial caseload thanks to overseas outsourcing and dentists who were milling crowns chairside instead of prescribing partials. 

At the same time, the lab was having ongoing frustrations with dentist-clients who were inexperienced with dentures. “Since dentists come out of school with minimal removable training, we were seeing clients who didn’t even know how to take a proper reline impression,” says Jessica Hilton, Business Manager of the Lewiston, ME, operation. “And even though we have been doing this for years, they didn’t want to take our advice.”

Compounding these issues was another chronic problem—a huge shortage of dentists in the state of Maine—which led the lab to make a pivotal decision. “Since...