Chicago meetings

[RDA]

I cant believe that there are labs that still dont use a scanner?? Im a one man lab and I have two.. I couldnt imagine doing business today without it.. or at least making any money.

Please elaborate, a lot of us would like to know how a scanner improved your workload. thanks.

 

[rkm rdt]

Very few weekends to start.

 

[Affinity]

Please elaborate, a lot of us would like to know how a scanner improved your workload. thanks.

Well I dont have too much time to elaborate now.. but it takes me about 10 minutes to scan and design a crown. It would take this long for die spacer to dry... Whether I mill it or not is another story.. (either I pay someone $30-40 to mill it, or I mill it and pay about $6-7, and put the other $23/unit towards my mill)

Im still figuring out the workflow, but I can turn about 15-20 FCZ units around in a week.. without killing myself(still 10-12 hr days). I do everything here, EVERYTHING.. nobody helps me with models, deliveries, billing etc. Last month I did 65 units and 4 denture arches (my best month in over 10 years as a lab owner). How someone like Al can do 40-50 in a week by hand is an anomaly.. I dont think most people can do that, especially not me. If I had someone scanning and doing other little things (my next goal, which is not easy in a small town with no other techs for an hour) I could ramp that up.. any monkey can scan cases in.. Milling or printing wax, is a God-send.. bridges that dont rock, impeccable margins 99% of the time, e.max, ready to press. I could never go back to the old way of doing things because now I have so much extra time to make sure everything shines like a diamond. Most Drs want FCZ or emax but a few are still doing PFMs with metal margins.. and that is just a huge waste of my time.. the esthetics and strength of layered porcelain on posteriors are not even comparable to what I can do with zirconia. If youre not selling your drs on zirconia, then find new ones.. The dental industry is changing so fast... Drs want cheap crowns that look nice, and this will not go away, only become more prevalent.

I am by no means production, nor high-end... but with the extra time I have, I would put my work in the higher end category, and with the speed and cost effectiveness I can compete with the production labs.. The learning curve does take a year at least.. but theres a reason the industry is going the way it is.. and if youre still sending out models to have zr milled.. youre pretty far behind the curve, sorry to say.

Im by no means talking down.. this is just what Ive found.

 

[TomZ]