"Advanced" Training

[Ethan Thompson]

Hello again folks

So, my question today is about furthering my ability to work with my 3shape scanner/software and our Zenotec mini. Currently we use it for you basic, run-of-the-mill cases, wax-ups for pressing, zirconia design for in-house milling, and custom abutment design for out-sourcing. I feel like we are completely under utilizing this powerful equipment. It has certainly saved us some money at this point, but I know that I could be more proficient with it, given proper training. That being said, I've attended the digital forum hosted by Whip-Mix last year in addition to the NADL meeting prior to that, all in hopes of gaining some new skills or new leads on further training, in-depth training, to better utilize my equipment. However, I've come up with very little. The NADL meeting was not helpful at all, it felt to me like a reiteration of the previous year, trying to get me to buy-in to the digital age rather than tell me what to do with it now that I'm in it. And the Whip-Mix forum was more of the same, although this meeting did steer us in the direction of buying a mill, admittedly not from Whip-Mix.

I imagine that it would help to know that I have no formal training, everything I know of this business and the industry I have picked up over the last 3 years from the veterans that work here in the lab alongside myself. I was hired on with the forethought that they were going to need to replace some older employees with a younger guy who could run a computer without much help.

Any ideas and or leads would be awesome, thanks

I don't feel that it is beneath me to pick up a book either, so if anyone can offer up some must reads like course material, I would certainly look into those as well.

Thanks again,
Ethan

 

[Sevan P]

Ivoclar had some good training. Where you located?

Pay for my flight and boarding and I will train your team for a small fee.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[2thm8kr]

Make a list of the things you want or need to learn how to do with dental CAD.
The more specific the better.

 

[rkm rdt]

Argen offers training.

 

[Ethan Thompson]

Ivoclar had some good training. Where you located?

Pay for my flight and boarding and I will train your team for a small fee.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

The team consists of just me. I've trained our office manager to do most of the scanning, with the exception of the more difficult cases, where I really need to focus on getting pre-op scans to line up with working models, or intricate implant cases, or the crown-under-partial cases. In the case of the later I have come up with a way to scan in the partial, with no need to have someone do a wax-up.
We are located in southern Indiana, Bloomington to be specific.

 

[Ethan Thompson]

Make a list of the things you want or need to learn how to do with dental CAD.
The more specific the better.

As to what, specifically, I'm looking to become better at, the list is long. One thing that comes to mind every time I sit down to design a case is, how can I decrease the amount of time that we spend finishing the restoration after its sintered, from building-in the proper amount of detailed anatomy, to getting the contacts just right, essentially I don't want anyone to spend more than a few minutes at the grinding bench with a unit before it's ready to go back and get stained and glazed. A few other things would be getting more comfortable with handling digital cases, as it stands right now we don't do them. We have done them in the past but have had clients leave to go with glidewell or some other large production lab because they can get a $99 crown. There also is a lack of dentist who use I/O scanners in our area. When we went through our training to get the scanner we went over the process and I can replicate it, but I honestly don't know what I'm doing when I import something, I'm repeating some memorized steps and have no idea how to troubleshoot when something goes wrong. We also have issues with bite alignment, this is another aspect of the grinding time that I would like to eliminate, everything looks lined up on the screen but then a day or two goes by and someone will come back with a couple units that they spent 10 minutes grinding on and completely destroyed all of the anatomy that was put into the crown, its stands to mention that unless otherwise specified by the Doc we design all zirconia .2-.3mm out of occlusion. Also, implant studio, something we have never touched, clients and prospective clients alike, have asked about surgical guides and implant planning, something we don't do because we don't know how to use the program.

 

[Ethan Thompson]

Argen offers training.

This is something we have thought about and looked into doing, but with it being on the other side of the country, only a single day, and throw in there that I am really the only one who can run the machines, it just doesn't seem to be worth it. I've seen that they will do webinars, but in truth I'm not sure how helpful that will actually be.

 

[Patrick Coon]

https://www.ivoclarvivadent.us/icdelearn/coursesDigital

 

[rkm rdt]

This is something we have thought about and looked into doing, but with it being on the other side of the country, only a single day, and throw in there that I am really the only one who can run the machines, it just doesn't seem to be worth it. I've seen that they will do webinars, but in truth I'm not sure how helpful that will actually be.

They are doing a remote with me tomorrow.You don't need to be in the same room.

 

[rkm rdt]

They are doing a remote with me tomorrow.You don't need to be in the same room.

In fact they prefer that I'm as far away from them as possible.

 

[zero_zero]

They are doing a remote with me tomorrow.You don't need to be in the same room.

If you were CHL, could just hit the upgrade button...and have beer at the same time

 

[rkm rdt]

I'd wear out that button.

 

[Ethan Thompson]

What is CHL?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[2thm8kr]

 

[JMN]

What is CHL?

CoolHandLuke, an artificial intelligence posing as a human user here. The hard drives are between sites right now, so presence is limited to what was uploaded to a cell phone and is able to operate on that platform.

 

[CoolHandLuke]

no. forget it. you are not worthy.

besides i am literally the worst designer.

 

[Sevan P]

no. forget it. you are not worthy.

besides i am literally the worst designer.

I agree, i had to fire him.......twice! Lmfao.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[Sarah Downs]

I'm in the same boat, here, Ethan. In fact, I'd be curious to hear from you now, several months later after you posted this, to see how you've come along and what you've found useful in your learning experience.

View attachment 27162

https://www.ivoclarvivadent.us/icdelearn/coursesDigital

God this looked great... and unfortunately Ivoclar no longer offers this. I just got off the phone with them. Apparently, though, they offer essentially the same thing through Core3d. I'll follow up with them to see what I can find, though it sounds like the videos will be less informative than actual on-site training.

I've been looking through what I can find on Youtube, which sounds chintzy, cuz you can only find so much. But there are some webinars and things on there. I did find this very informative video on Implant Studio by CAP Academy. It's not as intimidating as it looks:



Speaking of CAP Academy, their training videos aren't bad, but don't really go far below the surface-level usage for 3Shape.

Other than that, I'm not sure what my lab is willing to invest in in terms of my training with someone like Argen. It might be something I bring up. Believe me, I was hired under the same idea: I'm young, trainable, and good with computers. But 3Shape is a different animal than most software I'm used to, and it's a real bear when you want to do anything more complicated than scanning and designing a simple crown. I'd benefit a lot from training with someone who knows how to trick it to do less conventional things.