Dental technology breaks through adages like “It’s about as much fun as having a root canal”, by advancing beyond dreaded dental procedures requiring drilling, filling, sticking, cutting or digging. Patients no longer have to cringe if you say root canal!
Dentist labs progress quickly with new dental lab products and methods. Brag to your patients about these painless technologies from orthodontic labs and dental laboratories:
1. The velscope uses a magnification light to detect oral cancer.
2. Digital radiography uses a sensor to take faster x-rays with less radiation
3. From orthodontic labs, the Freedom-Lock™ Appliance System for braces keep them in place while you quickly remove them during treatment.
4. The intraoral camera lets patients see dental problems and watch it corrected on a computer screen.
5. Instead of tap, tap, tapping on a sensitive tooth, the latest technology from the dentist lab offers a Diagadent cavity finder that beeps to identify tooth decay.
6. The TAP® 3 Appliance enhances breathing, arrests sleep apnea and reduces snoring in 95% of patients who use it.
7. New from the dental laboratory, immediate loading gives patients a new, functional tooth in less than an hour.
Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done
Partner with dental laboratories that are qualified
Always check the credentials of dental labs you consider using. The Dental Laboratory Infection Control Council (DLICC) provides effective infection control.
I recommend: The DLICC provides the names of their
certified members online. Search the National Association of Dental Laboratories'
member directory for your dental laboratory.
Choose a dental laboratory that makes your job easier
As dental labs improve their dental laboratory equipment and procedures, they also improve their service to you. Pick a dental lab that pulls it's resources to simplify your use of them, so you can concentrate on your patients.
I recommend: Thayer Dental Laboratory encourages you to upload your preferences on their
Doctor's Preference Chart to help serve you better.
Tell patients about a new technique from dental laboratories, immediate loading
Immediate loading is a remarkable dental implant technology to come out of the dental labs. It saves adjacent teeth and rescues the surrounding bone. Tell your patients it is painless and can be performed in one appointment with a current success rate of 96%.
I recommend: A
video from Zimmer Dental shows the immediate loading process. In addition, a
book published by Quintessence Publishing, "Immediate Loading in Implant Dentistry: Surgical, Prosthetic, Occlusal, and Laboratory Aspects", gives an in-depth look from the dentist's point of view.
Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide
- Help patients overcome phobias and fears resulting in dentistry techniques of the past by producing office literature and direct mail literature like newsletters that keep them aware of technological advances in the dentist labs.
- Send a direct mailer to patients who have not made appointments in 2+ years. Creatively tell them to "take a step of faith" and enjoy new advancements in dental lab products.
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