February 2009

We’ll continue to see increasing use of digital technology until, ultimately, every fabrication step is done on the computer.

By 2014, dental prosthetics will be an $11 billion per year industry. C&B will still represent the majority of that volume.

No other specialty has been impacted by CAD/CAM technology more than C&B. Digitization has transformed this department over the last decade, allowing laboratory owners to streamline lab processes.

It’s predicted that the number of adults needing one or two complete dentures will continue to rise, increasing to 37.9 million adults in 2020, and demand is also growing.

Digital dentistry is in its infancy because it’s still replicating what can be done by hand. Things will really get exciting when the dental team can do things digitally that it can’t do manually.

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Automation is going to change the laboratory industry in many ways, and some of these changes are already underway.

Technicians will be paid more, considerably more, because it will take fewer technicians to accomplish the same amount of work. For example, we have two Cercon systems and...

New systems and techniques are making implant placement and restoration easier and more predictable for the entire dental team.

Strategies for enhancing customer interaction

In Perception is the ONLY Reality, LMT asked technicians and dentists to match four crowns with four price tags that differed by $100, starting at $25 and topping out at $325. These crowns were from four different laboratories...

The current economic turmoil—which many predict will affect our growth through 2010—has created a ravine through an otherwise positive trend line in our well-regarded industry.

Dr. Gordon Christensen recently said, “Dentistry is changing so fast that it’s extremely difficult for practitioners to stay up to date” and I think the same can be said of dental laboratories.

Peoria, Illinois-based Dental Arts Laboratories (DAL) offers its customers three tiers of service: branded DAL restorations from its traditional DAL laboratories; "esthetic zone" high-end restorations from its DAL Signature Restorations Laboratory; and a value line from 360 Dental Laboratory. Here,...

Son's vision reinvigorates Rogers Dental Laboratories, Athens, TN, and his father's passion for the business.

After owning his own laboratory for nearly 30 years, Roy Rogers was ready to turn the reins over to his son and--in his words--"go home and start fishing."

But his son, Jason, had other...

It started in the 1980s when some dentists began offering headphones with a selection of music to distract patients from dental procedures. Meanwhile, interest in holistic treatments extended to dentistry and baby boomers came of age with unprecedented discretionary income and the willingness to spend...

The discovery in 2000 of stem cells in tooth pulp opened many doors for researchers, in part because teeth are a morally non-controversial source of the cells.

As a lab owner, you have your client's trust. Your opinion, pardon the expression, has teeth, especially where materials are concerned.