Reader Notes

EasyRx, manufacturers of Jenmar VisualDLP, a cloud-based dental lab management software, announced the release of EasyRx Forms. EasyRx Forms is a customizable form solution allowing labs to create and share custom forms with their customers.   

With a friendly and intuitive interface, EasyRx Forms is an easy-to-use solution to collect information and data. The custom forms can be shared with staff and customers to gather feedback, information, and more.  EasyRxForms is HIPAA compliant...

In the field of oral implantology and its surgical procedures, the dental laser offers numerous advantages over conventional tools. In particular, the bactericidal and cutting properties of the dental laser allow the implant surgeon to treat in a more flexible, efficient, minimally invasive, and rapid manner and to meet the patient's requirements for a rapid post-operative recovery and reduced pain.

Continuous and stable soft tissue support is necessary for the long-term success of the...

Introduction-The shallow vestibule was one of the mucogingival problems cited by Friedman in the late 1950s that required apicocoronal dimension of gingiva. Problems with shallow vestibule includes, - Unable to perform intra-sulcular cleaning or modified Bass method, as it requires placement of tooth brush bristle into the gingival sulcus. In patients with reduced vestibular depth this couldn’t be possible. Thus it interferes with oral hygiene procedures causing ineffective plaque control. ...

Five key takeaways from today’s ADA webinar, "Week 3: Economic Impact of COVID-19 on the Dental Care Sector":

1. As of last Monday, dental practices in 40 states have opened to varying degrees, meaning some states have greater restrictions than others.

2. 65% of dental practices are open.

3. Older dentists are more likely to remain closed.

4. Patient volume nationwide is at 38% of pre-COVID-19 levels.

5. Among those dental practices that remain closed, here are the top three reasons why: state...

LMT received a letter from a former lab owner about Krakdent, a trade show in Poland in March that she believes U.S. lab owners should know about.

Today there is a wide variety of CNC dental machining centers available to suite a variety of needs and choosing the right one for you can seem to be a daunting task.

Knowing the construction characteristics of these machine tools and how they affect operation, reliability, quality of output and cost of ownership can aid greatly in making an educated decision when choosing the most effective one for a given application.

Quite simply the “perfect” dental machining center (DMC) is one that...

Jim B. Here. I have been in the dental lab business for over 40 years starting out as a C & B tech. I switched to removables about 15 years into the game. For the last 25 years I have operated my own lab outside of Philadelphia PA. Over the years I've had employees but I find it difficult to achieve the consistent quality that makes me proud of what I do, hence I work by myself with a part time delivery person. I do just about everything from start to finish from bite blocks to hybrid denture...

We’re here to help! If you encountered any road blocks while you were trying to register for the show, please contact us and we’ll be happy to get you registered!

Email Karen at [email protected] or myself at [email protected].

Dear LMT,

I loved the October Publisher’s Page, “Water, Water Everywhere…And Yet” and the race to the bottom comment! This is exactly one of the reasons we started DTG (Dental Technicians Guild): to combat the downward trend of the U.S. dental lab industry. We connect with other like-minded technicians who want to raise the bar for education, technique sharing and business marketing.

The Publisher’s Page asks: “So what are we going to do to turn things around?...

I recently purchased 2 Jelrus Infinity L30 burn out ovens on E-bay, one used one new. The used performed well for about three months.  After three months the display would not ligth up but you could hear the oven heating. After reading all the tech bulletins and manuals the recommendation was to replace the printed circut board. When I priced the board it was 680.00. A little steep.  

I began by finding a website called Digi-Key.com. They sell electrical components for PCB's. I replaced...

How long does it take your mill to machine a (insert restoration type here)? 

This seems to be an area that the digital dental labs and milling centers are most concerned with and can likely be a key criterion in their purchase of a milling machine. Of course machine cycle time is important but it is in reality, not a true gage of a milling machines production and effect on overall throughput and profitability. While the VersaMILL is capable of producing single unit zirconia restoration in...

There are many interrelated factors that affect a DMC’s (Dental Milling Center) reliability, speed and accuracy, the three most important of which include the spindle drive system, machine control system and axis drive system. The spindle drive system provides power to the cutting tool to remove material. The control (or machine operating system) is the brain of the DMC and coordinates machine motion. The axis drive system  determines how smooth the motion of the DMC  is and how...

Nowadays software is everywhere, it has taken over every scenario of our lives.

Throughout my 34-year career as a technician, lab owner, manager, consultant and denturist, most of my problems have been the doctors' lack of training and experience in fixed and removable appliances. Since many dentists graduate with minimal lab experience—especially in removables—they get very frustrated by denture cases.

In Indiana, technicians, assistants and other dental professionals can work directly with patients under the dentist's supervision and over the years I found myself...

Knowing what you know

doesn’t mean you know

more than others know,

or those others know

more than you know.

Maybe they don’t know

what you know,

so what you know

might not be what you need to know,

because another one could not know

what others know,

including what you know.

At the same instance to know

you know what you know

“Because you must know”.

Jack G.

In Dental technology, we found different types of knowledge. Don’t discard the thinking of those...

In this game called “LIFE”,

is not really about how you fall down,

is more about how you are

picking up yourself without touching the ground

and continue with the so called “process”,

until the pieces are together once more.

Until then, just make room for little mistakes,

deceptions, ups and downs;

no matter how far you see the shore,

there is always a shining star lighting up your path

and faith, in yourself, who else?

Jack Garcia.

For us technicians,...

I read an article about placing patient identification in acrylic dentures. May labs were discussing the best way to cold cure the ID into the denture and what materials to use for the actual ID. I heat cure the denture ID into the denture and it will never yellow or fade. Here's how,

perform your wax up, boil out, and separation in the usual method.

using the "mini-ident" product, type the information then apply a thin film of super glue to the type so it will not be affected by the monomer.

Choose...

There's always a lot of great technical talk here, but I would love to participate in some conversation about the trends taking place in the industry and how they affect us.

I started Dale Dental 12 years ago as a way for labs to get access to the restorations they needed to grow their business. To me however, Dale was always about more than the restorations or the cad/cam or anything else like that. Dale was about a paradigm shift in the way labs work. I believed then, as I do now, that labs needed...

I find the China debate to be very interesting yet perplexing. Some continue to believe that the problems faced by today's lab owners are in some measure due to the Chinese. This is akin to standing at the plate and taking a called strike while swatting a gnat. If we don't keep our eyes on the ball, the game will be over before we realized what happened.

While some dental laboratories might be adversely affected by offshore products, pricing pressures are occurring industry-wide and are mostly coming...

I'm a dental assistant with expanded functions in prosthodontics. I learned a long time ago that technicians have so much to teach assistants and doctors. I've worked with many of them to keep communication open between the lab and the office and promoted [the importance of communication] in an article I wrote with T.G. Hornischer. I'm passionate about small business and regret the slow demise of dental labs. In the U.S. our labs are dwindling while more students graduate from dental school and more...

In response to Claus Dampmann's letter, Labor - €”Not Material Costs - €”is Key Factor Driving Selling Price of Chinese Crowns, in your June/July issue, please allow me to point out some things he failed to mention.

While it's true that ProLab Solutions, Inc. and many other offshore labs are FDA-, ISO- and DAMAS-compliant, many of the American labs that buy crowns and bridges from them are not. Also, even though ProLab Solutions is "very supportive of full disclosure" the same can't be said for...

A counter viewpoint to those who have concerns about the materials being used in China.

Hi,

Being a reseller of CAD CAM equipment we have found it to be very interesting that many decision makers in dental labs want help figuring out if it's the right time to buy. From a business perspective it's all about return on investment (ROI).

So, for the sake of this exercise let's look at the cost of borrowing $10K over 5 years. Based on 21 manufacturing days in a month the $10K turns out to cost about $8.50 per day. So, a $27K scanner will run a little less than $25 per day. That said, if...

The NBC has been asked for CAD CAM credentialling. I know it sounds good on paper. But practically, how would you envision a CAD CAM test to be, that would credential this skill set? What would we test candidates on (designing?), how would we evaluate it and what tools would be required?

Keeping in mind that each test facility would likely need to have the process(s) on site? Or, would each candidate bring a lap top with software? would there be a production element? Also, the industry does...

Dear LMT:

A recent issue of Dentistry Today featured an article, "Dental Lab Registration: Dentists Leading the Way", written by attorney and NADL Chief Staff Executive Eric Thorn, who points out some interesting trends in states that are creating legislation or proposals requiring dental lab registration (including Virginia, Georgia, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, California and Washington). Thorn says that, in many cases, the reason for the growing push for lab registration is the leadership...