Economy Dentures

[rlhhds]

It has been awhile since I started this and our thoughts and processes have changed. As of now our premium dentures are milled with Ivotion with a premium finish. A 2 part milled denture if we can't use Ivotion. Our economy dentures are printed with a smooth finish. Currently using Luci-Print but eyeing other materials strictly for economy if it is something we can feel good about using. Some clients want something in between so we offer them a printed denture with a premium finish. 6 months from now could be different depending on what our clients want and materials evolve.

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

It's been a minute since you posted that, curious if you changed yet? We have but we sell them as immediates only and even suggest they are a 5-year denture. Some of the Medicare plans give them a new denture every 5 years, so some of the Docs are happy prescribing them and to be honest, the Dentsply Lucitone print (from Argen and you can get setup yourself if you have the correct printer) are pretty nice and not like when the printable dentures were first introduced and you can reline them with cold cure if need be.

we still have the capability, and had the capability when I posted that....but we haven't moved to making any more than the 2-3 we have made over the past few years.
that said, we are constantly getting requests to make a "cheaper" digital denture. constantly. including this morning from 2 offices.

sigh

at some point i may pull the trigger. our printer is validated for lucitone too now, so theres that. i guess.

how do you keep the balance? (feel free to PM if you would like)
techs are generally busy doing other things already, so do i create another workflow and start having the digital RPD guy design dentures too? or do i pull a tech from traditional dentures and start churning out digital, incurring the cost of another CAD setup. its messy, and while not as labor intensive as a traditional wax up, the toxic material side of things is the real mess i dont like. fumes, IPA, etc...
or maybe we embrace something like a big stratasys printer and move the majority of denture work to the computers and start printing like crazy? thats a heck of an investment into a $100k printer, and would come with debt as theres not cash on hand for that sort of cash purchase.

thinking out loud here, lots of word vomit lol. you can tell me to stuff it if i seem too whiney

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

It has been awhile since I started this and our thoughts and processes have changed. As of now our premium dentures are milled with Ivotion with a premium finish. A 2 part milled denture if we can't use Ivotion. Our economy dentures are printed with a smooth finish. Currently using Luci-Print but eyeing other materials strictly for economy if it is something we can feel good about using. Some clients want something in between so we offer them a printed denture with a premium finish. 6 months from now could be different depending on what our clients want and materials evolve.

we have had some evolution too, and i probably should have mentioned this. we do offer a digital-traditional workflow. we get scans and can create a traditional denture from them. it has saved some office appts, and the clients like that. chair time is expensive, so offering a solution always helps.
worst case, the tissue compression isnt there from the initial scan and they take a light body wash inside the try in before final processing.

 

[rlhhds]

About 3 years ago we want All in on digital dentures, we invested in a PM7 and the Ivotion discs. There were multiple reasons. Lack of skilled denture techs, they were retiring on us and Ivotion. I was not happy with the printed materials at the time so no printing dentures for us then. It was one traditional dentures the next day we flipped the switch and it went all digital whether they like it or not. It was a challenge to get our clients on board with such a change. Took some time educating my clients on the digital aspect but they all came around eventually and Love it now. Some have even commented that doing dentures was fun now.

 

[TheLabGuy]

About 3 years ago we want All in on digital dentures, we invested in a PM7 and the Ivotion discs. There were multiple reasons. Lack of skilled denture techs, they were retiring on us and Ivotion. I was not happy with the printed materials at the time so no printing dentures for us then. It was one traditional dentures the next day we flipped the switch and it went all digital whether they like it or not. It was a challenge to get our clients on board with such a change. Took some time educating my clients on the digital aspect but they all came around eventually and Love it now. Some have even commented that doing dentures was fun now.

I've had the same response as well with Ivotion.

 

[FASTFNGR]

Some discussion in our lab on economy dentures. We made an emergency denture because the dr. admittedly screwed up and we bailed him out. We printed a monolithic denture and put pink composite on the gingival(not our normal economy denture technique) and he and the patient were thrilled that we could get them something acceptable to them so fast. My removable lead thought there could be a sizable market for a "super economy denture" like this. Is anyone doing something like this for their economy dentures? What are you all doing for your economy dentures? All our premium dentures are Ivotion milled and economy are lucitone print. Thanks

It takes less than 2 hrs to finish a cold cured economy denture. Cost materials $10. Add your labor per hour and you have your cost which is a lot cheaper than print.

 

[Denture Dude]

It takes less than 2 hrs to finish a cold cured economy denture. Cost materials $10. Add your labor per hour and you have your cost which is a lot cheaper than print.

But, the docs aren’t having ‘fun’ doing it that way anymore.

 

[rlhhds]

It takes less than 2 hrs to finish a cold cured economy denture. Cost materials $10. Add your labor per hour and you have your cost which is a lot cheaper than print.

Technology offsets the lack of skilled technicians on hand and makes the techs here deliver a consistently good product. It can make a average technician better and more efficient thus creating value for the client and the lab.

 

[FASTFNGR]

Technology offsets the lack of skilled technicians on hand and makes the techs here deliver a consistently good product. It can make an average technician better and more efficient thus creating value for the client and the lab.

I am sorry but the lack of skilled techs does not mean give an inferior product in my opinion.

 

[rlhhds]

I am sorry but the lack of skilled techs does not mean give an inferior product in my opinion.

To each their own.

 

[bigj1972]

we still have the capability, and had the capability when I posted that....but we haven't moved to making any more than the 2-3 we have made over the past few years.
that said, we are constantly getting requests to make a "cheaper" digital denture. constantly. including this morning from 2 offices.

sigh

at some point i may pull the trigger. our printer is validated for lucitone too now, so theres that. i guess.

how do you keep the balance? (feel free to PM if you would like)
techs are generally busy doing other things already, so do i create another workflow and start having the digital RPD guy design dentures too? or do i pull a tech from traditional dentures and start churning out digital, incurring the cost of another CAD setup. its messy, and while not as labor intensive as a traditional wax up, the toxic material side of things is the real mess i dont like. fumes, IPA, etc...
or maybe we embrace something like a big stratasys printer and move the majority of denture work to the computers and start printing like crazy? thats a heck of an investment into a $100k printer, and would come with debt as theres not cash on hand for that sort of cash purchase.

thinking out loud here, lots of word vomit lol. you can tell me to stuff it if i seem too whiney

Nope...you say tuff sh*t.
Guys we control the market..where they gonna go??? Somewhere else?? Problem solved.
I wouldn't waste time or money setting up another assembly line because some whiny b*itches want something for nothing with a smile.

 

[let it be]

There's really a large market for this.

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

Nope...you say tuff sh*t.
Guys we control the market..where they gonna go??? Somewhere else?? Problem solved.
I wouldn't waste time or money setting up another assembly line because some whiny b*itches want something for nothing with a smile.

the goal (for me) is to be a problem solver. a solution to needs when they arise.
there's not a ton of money that needs to be dumped into another assembly line, we are already printing, washing, and curing resin products (mostly models).
i do see a need for digital dentures in my region, and beyond....that said, there is a large investment in equipment and material that would have to take place. i am hesitant, but do want to figure out how it fits into my workflow eventually. really, i think my own ignorance in the nitty gritty revolving around digital dentures is probably holding me back. if i can find the time to be fully versed on more of the materials, processes, etc, i would probably pull the trigger on a setup. currently my time has been spent elsewhere in more profitable areas of the lab.

 

[JonnyLathe]

From my experience printed dentures only work as temporary dentures, even with the strongest resins. They just don't last as long. We do digital dentures but keep printing strictly to immediates and try-in dentures, then we use milled dentures for finals as PMMA just seems stronger and much more stain resistant.

 

[JonnyLathe]

It takes less than 2 hrs to finish a cold cured economy denture. Cost materials $10. Add your labor per hour and you have your cost which is a lot cheaper than print.

Pros and cons to each.

I think a cold cure denture will still be superior to a printed denture in esthetics, strength, and repair/relineability.

Printed denture is about the same in material costs and can be designed/printed faster than it can be waxed, invested, and finished but requires a much higher initial investment to do so (CAD software, printer, wash/cure, resin). Digital dentures also give you the ability to do smile design which more or less eliminates cants/wrong midline from docs who don't know how to mark high smile line/midline on a wax rim. They're easily reprintable (and rechargeable) if the patient loses them.

 

[JonnyLathe]

we still have the capability, and had the capability when I posted that....but we haven't moved to making any more than the 2-3 we have made over the past few years.
that said, we are constantly getting requests to make a "cheaper" digital denture. constantly. including this morning from 2 offices.

sigh

at some point i may pull the trigger. our printer is validated for lucitone too now, so theres that. i guess.

how do you keep the balance? (feel free to PM if you would like)
techs are generally busy doing other things already, so do i create another workflow and start having the digital RPD guy design dentures too? or do i pull a tech from traditional dentures and start churning out digital, incurring the cost of another CAD setup. its messy, and while not as labor intensive as a traditional wax up, the toxic material side of things is the real mess i dont like. fumes, IPA, etc...
or maybe we embrace something like a big stratasys printer and move the majority of denture work to the computers and start printing like crazy? thats a heck of an investment into a $100k printer, and would come with debt as theres not cash on hand for that sort of cash purchase.

thinking out loud here, lots of word vomit lol. you can tell me to stuff it if i seem too whiney

If you see there's a large untapped market for cheaper digital dentures, maybe offer a printed denture that has a reprint fee. Let the docs know they probably won't last over a year and they will be charged for reprints.

I don't think it's worth investing in a stratasys just to offer a cheaper product, it'll be forever before you see ROI. At that price (cheaper really) you could invest in a dedicated denture mill and charge more for premium digital dentures. Just my 2 cents.