February 2019

The landscape of the dental industry is ever-changing: demographic shifts, business model transitions and technological evolutions present new opportunities and challenges for dentists and laboratories alike. Proactive laboratories are making a point

1. Set standards. Once the dentist is ready to start sending cases, establish what you need from him. While the software that accompanies the scanner walks the dentist through obtaining the three pieces of information you need—prep arch, opposing arch and bite scan—there are details that...

If you want to truly earn dentists’ loyalties, you need to discover their pain points. Only when you know what they find frustrating, nerve-racking or gut-wrenching can you implement services or strategies to help give them peace of mind and ultimately build long-term relationships. “I’ve...

In our ongoing celebration of our 35th year in business, I asked readers what dental laboratory-related items they would have put in a time capsule in 1984—the year LMT was founded—to be opened today. Here are some of their responses: 

“A Bränemark Hybrid Prosthesis;...

LMT asked dentist-participants in our 2018 Dentist Survey to rank the challenges they assume laboratory owners face. Interestingly, they were correct in choosing the top two, saying a lab’s biggest struggles are hiring competent staff (which lab owners ranked as their #2 problem) and making do...

Last October, FullContour launched its digital denture design services. While there are a variety of workflow options for both milling and printing, this article is focused on using two models and a bite rim to fabricate a printed denture; this specific workflow includes 3Shape scanner and software,...

Editor’s Note: During his presentation at 3Shape’s Inaugural Community Symposium last fall, Lyndon F. Cooper, DDS, PhD, explained the positive impact of digital technology now and in the future. The following is excerpted from his lecture in which he focused on four main benefits of digital...

An avid scuba diver and artist, Norman McMillan has always channeled his passion for the water into his work, filming life in and around the ocean and using the images as inspiration for sculptures of yachts and marine life. About 15 years ago, he took things a step further and began using that passion...

Fifty-nine percent of laboratories now accept digital impressions and most laud the technology for streamlining workflows and allowing them to shorten their turnaround. Currently, they consider about one quarter of the intraoral scans they receive to be inadequate; however, most say the quality of these...

At a time when two-year dental technology programs are at an all-time low, the Department of Restorative Dentistry at New York City College of Technology (NYCCT)

is bucking the trend, moving into a brand-new facility and planning for expansion.

At five-person R Dental Ceramics in Solana Beach, CA, staff members often become like family to Co-Owners Carol and Bill Pilmer. Case in point: their relationship with Dr. Sussi Yamaguchi, who was applying to dental school when she worked at the laboratory in 2002.

Although she worked in the lab for...

By Burney Croll, DDS

I’ve been a practicing prosthodontist for the last 50 years, graduating from the SUNY School of Dentistry in 1968 and receiving my Certificate in Prosthodontics from Tufts University in 1972. Though my mentors in my formative years were mostly dentists, the common thread among...

In 1986, Rick Knecht had just opened RGK Dental Lab in Somerset, PA, when he met Dr. John Leitner, who had just bought a practice in a nearby town. “This young guy walks into my practice saying he just finished dental technology school, opened his own C&B lab and wanted my business,”...

LMT asked dentist-participants in our 2018 Dentist Survey what they want laboratory owners and managers to know. Here’s what they have to say:

Dr. Roger Levin, Founder of Levin Group and an expert in the field of practice management and marketing, helps you understand your customers’ pain points and offers advice for streamlining processes and tightening controls you can share with your dentist-clients.

As a dentist and dental consultant...

A decade ago, many laboratory owners felt “all dressed up with nowhere to go,” as they were fired up about digital dentistry but struggled to get their dentist-clients on board. In fact, in 2010, only 50% of laboratories said clients were interested in trying new technologies and only one-third...

According to U.S. census data, less than one-half of one percent of companies stay in business for 100 years; those that stay the course for a century should truly celebrate! It’s in that spirit that Whip Mix Corp. kicks off its centennial year.

In LMT’s joint survey with Dental Economics, 46% of dentists say they’ve switched their primary laboratory—meaning the one they use most often—in the last five years. Here’s what leads them to end laboratory relationships and what they look for next time around. 

The...