Welcome Back, Removables

It was 1985 and Knight Dental Group's C&B business was booming. In contrast, its removables department was stagnant—technicians only worked on dentures if it was a combination case from current clients. So the laboratory decided to sell off its removable department—the frames division to one lab and acrylic processing to another—and focus all of its attention on C&B.

Fast forward 22 years to 2007.

Knight's C&B business was still doing well, but its denture business had picked up and the company was now spending about $140,000 a year subcontracting the removable portions of its combination cases. It was also paying attention to market trends and knew dentures were hot.

The lab conducted six months of research on the potential of the market, equipment, fees, turnaround times and more—and it liked what it saw. "We saw that removables were growing rapidly due to demand...