milling lava zirconia

[envisiondental]

Anyone have experience in milling lava or procera zirconia copings? I know the process to a degree but am more interested in cost. Right now I'm paying $89 a coping using Issaquah milling center in Washington state. Free shipping both ways. I do around 60 a month. Bottom line is if I was saving $30 or so a coping doing them myself I would start looking into doing this. If were talking saving 10 or 15 a coping I wouldn't consider this. I know milling machine cost makes a big difference and also time designing. Also how much per milling block and can more than one coping be milled? Btw .. lovin lava zirconia. 0 remakes out of 500+ crowns. Never had one break(knock on wood). And only 1 or 2 shade adjustments. Using CZR/Noritake on buildup.

 

[sixonice]

Doing 60 per month is surely enough to get into your own milling. Your spending $64,080 (60 units at $89 X 12 months per year) per year having your zirconia copings made. No matter how you slice it thats alot of cash for outsourcing (even though I am sure Issaquah loves ya). Heck, you could get into an inLab for $95,000 that does mill zirconia and also gives you the option to mill Leucite glass, Lithium Discilicate, Acrylic & wax. That system would pay for itself in less than 2 years times. Think about if you continue to pay 64grand per year sending out for zirconia....5 more years of doing that will cost you over $320,000. For $320 grand you could get anything on the market!

 

[v2thmaster]

I'm using Shikosha they charge $75 per unit and the same for bridges (no connector fees) or $45 if you scan your own models. They are the cheapest place to get LAVA.

 

[charles007]

Hey guys, lets not forget about Scott at ***........Great work and better prices..
Buy a 3M scanner at 32k for your Lava coping and resins , and get 10 Lava coping free per month for the first 12 months. Plus 3M has free updates compared to paying 3k per year, every year with a Dental Wings scanner.......... 3 Shape scanner slightly cheaper for license-updates fee. Also, Lava DVS crown will be out in July if you have their scanner.......
Just saying......

Charles

 

[DMC]

We often let coping go out the door for $19 each, if you scan them the "*** way" (patent pending). We have a good fifteen scanning labs that are tickeled to get copings for such a deal.

These guys are on the other side of America, we are in Va. We really are trying to work with the mid-atlantic guys and gals, but I'll try to work with almost anyone.

A service agreement on a complete milling system is around $20k a year.

Unless you can assemble your own encoder on a motor and solder etc. you need to factor in that. You will also need two months of materials.
We spend around $30k a month for each mill in zirconia blocks. (money does not roll in untill 1-2 months after you make something. Maybe more?)

Then you need plenty of extra $$ to hire new employee, training, learning curve. Plan on loosing big money the first 1/2 year. Do you have rich parents? That always helps.

 

[envisiondental]

wow.. thanks for all the input. Lots to think about .. although the scanner idea is looking the most feasible. Are there differences in strength or fit when comparing lava/procera/cercon/system2 etc.. or does it all come down to the scanning and design?

thanks again.

 

[charles007]

envisiondental
I'm also looking and getting alot of help from Scott.....One way of looking at it, if you buy a scanner now, you haven't lost anything and you can buy a milling system later, should you choose. You will be saving from the first case with YOUR designs. Many of the closed systems today maybe open in the near future.. 3M is beginning to open up and may sell a small milling system in the future....... This cad/cam era is changing so fast......
Many used cerec-inlabs are sold and a few Cercon, proceras, hmmm , is that a hidden clue.
You also don't ever see used scanners for sell.............. is that another clue...........