Is it time to buy a scanner, projet printer?

[Al.]

why not, Al ?

a unit that takes only minutes to finish, of which you may produce 10x the volume per hour, nets you a lot more cash per day rather than cash per unit.

I'm not looking at it from a tech on the line but a lab owner that needs to make contacts with docs and sell.
More important to me for longevity and I'm finishing my 37th year in business is marketing and constantly reaching out to docs. It's more about sales to thrive and production.
i think the lines are being drawn between a commodity product or crowns being treated like corn and beans and high end restorations
The middle area is thinning.

 

[Al.]

I've made really good money banging out fast and cheap crowns but I was very surprised to see what price increases do to your end of the year income.

There's only so much work to go around to pick up new accounts you have to take them from other labs
So my ? to you is how are you going to get that work in your lab ????

 

[Al.]

Double post
Cell phone posting from a tree stand

 

[Al.]

IMO the name of the game for the future is marketing because one labs milled and stained crown is exactly the same as the next labs
Like Judy said on her editorial in LMT last month. Like everyone is selling bottled water.

 

[rkm rdt]

All those poorly made pfms are starting to fracture in the mouth.

Drs are replacing them with fcz's because they won't chip off porcelain.

I would say most of those crowns are probably 5-6 years old which is about the same time O'Bummer took office.

Coincidence? I think not.!

 

[CoolHandLuke]

one lab the same as the next? naw man, you crazy.

 

[Al.]

Yes yes yes that is a result of technology for this business model.
Very little difference between lab A crown and lab B for the vast majority of labs

Same mills same anatomy and contour library's same disks.
It comes down to who can stain the best and the packaging or marketing.

 

[RileyS]

Still depends on accuracy of models, die trim, fit of crown to die, contacts, occlusion......
Doctors I do work for have shared with me and delivery drivers how happy they are since they started using my lab. Where before they stressed the days when they had to seat crowns they now look forward to it because it's a nice simple consistent easy process. From my experience you're still gonna be pretty safe if you can asure doctors that they consistently will have crowns that drop right in and have crowns that look natural and blend in.
But I still think that your business plan and strategy needs to be worked into every lab if they do want to survive much longer because doctors will be milling their own single units within the next 5 to 10 years.

 

[JohnWilson]

Since when are Dr's only buying the products we produce?

I am pretty sure they are buying me, my service and my experience MORE than the crown in the box. Why do they box up and send me work 3000 miles away when they have a local lab next door? It sure as hell isn't because I am selling on price, and heck the shipping takes 2 days both ways. How am I getting these clients, how am I developing interest, what makes me different what makes me stand out. This is what you need to ask yourself.

What makes one lab more successful than another is rarely their ability to make the best tightest porcelain margin and more to do with what they do to communicate and understand their clients needs. This is something most techs just have not be able to grasp over the years and I think its because there are more tortured introverted artists than businessmen in this trade.

The products on the horizon will blow away what we are doing today, it is continuing to evolve. Sadly for the true artist and skill techs that have true vision layered will become and has become a minority product as the products that are being produced today FIT, FUNCTION and FILL the need of the vast majority of the quadrant dentistry producing clients.

Come on guys is it really that difficult to see how much better the products have become and what has led to this revolution. There is a demand for this product, who created the demand? Who deemed it satisfactory. Who will change the future? I feel for the younger guys who no longer can compete /start with 10k of equipment like I did.

 

[rlhhds]

We all might have the same scanners the same software right? So every lab is going to put out the same unit as what the pundants say? NO. Well haven't for the last 50 years or so we have all had the same alloys the same porcelains? Did we all put out the same crowns with those materials? NO. It comes down to the technician manipulating the porcelain the wax the design software. A lot has changed in materials and technology but it still come down to the technician in my opinion. I am getting a lot work new work from docs whose labs have the same materials and technology as me, but I am delivering a superior restoration in the docs eye. Our business has always been for the most part a commodity except for the niche boutique labs that are serving a more particular client.

 

[Hary]

We may have the same scanner or the same libraries like rlhhds said, it comes down to the technician. No 2 crowns look alike.

 

[griffmar79]

I have a d500 for sale. pm me for details

 

[labtek]

You can always buy a Trios and scan everything.

I'll never buy another table scanner once my D700 dies.

can you elaborate on why?

 

[rkm rdt]

Because the Trios is handheld and scans in colour with great detail.

It is super fast and does not require powder for shiny objects.

 

[rkm rdt]

It's quite possible that 3 Shape could introduce a lab version handheld in the future.

 

[TheLabGuy]

I will be blunt...there is NO way in the firey halls of hell will I EVER want to go back to making implant abutments the old way. One click and all the abutments are parallel, the quality is better, it's titanium, etc... The scanner is a no-brainer for the small labs out there and I think that's what Mr. Wilson was referring too. The scanner in my opinion has moved from just a tool in the box, to like having an extra employee. I know some will disagree with me, and that's fine, but right now, currently that's where I'm at with digital. It's allowed us to do more, offer more and offer things we only dreamed about doing, and instead of working 100+ hours a week, I've been averaging only 58 hours a week while the overall sale numbers have slowly been increasing. Has the quality gone down?...no way, been better because I now have time. One of the folks on DLN has a little saying after his name, something about how 'cad cam makes the tech better'. I have to admit I didn't agree at first, but I do now

 

[KentPWalton]

The Trios isn't as accurate as the tabletop scanners though. Just saying. You're

not going to be able to scan a bar case with a Trios.

 

[KentPWalton]

This quote?

"Cadcam isn't about replacing experienced technicians. It's about allowing the experienced technicians to be more efficient."
-CadCamAL

 

[rkm rdt]

The Trios is still in it's infancy.

 

[TheLabGuy]

This quote?

"Cadcam isn't about replacing experienced technicians. It's about allowing the experienced technicians to be more efficient."
-CadCamAL

Yep Thanks Kent