During the past decade, digital dentures have grabbed the limelight and are now fast replacing their conventionally designed counterparts. If you’re a dental technician, you’re already familiar with the demand for dentures that are strong, natural-looking, and provide a precise fit. That’s why it is high time you consider offering digital denture production at your lab to gain an edge over your competitors and win new customers.

This technology involves a short learning curve. You’ll also need to procure the right and software and equipment to prepare your dental lab for digital dentures. This typically requires financial investment right away, but there are dental companies that work with you from being the outsourced provider of the full workflow, to simply providing the monolithic loads as you are ready to fully manage the digital production at your lab.

The initial cost of digital denture production may be higher than that of conventional dentures and could dissuade dental labs from adopting the technology. However, digital dentures prove to be more cost-effective in the long run.

Dental practitioners have developed an interest in this type of dentures for the short number of patient visits involved and reproducibility, while patients are attracted to them for convenience and esthetic reasons.

In this blog, we’ll delve deeper into digital denture technology and production workflow. We’ll also find out why it’s becoming the norm for labs looking to stay ahead of the curve and thrive. Let’s get started.

Digital Dentures: A Closer Look

Digital dentures are permanent or temporary full-arch dentures that are designed and manufactured using a digital workflow. Traditionally, denture production involved multiple dentist appointments for measurement, fitting, and final delivery.

Dentists have to physically make impressions and create inter-occlusal records to capture a patient’s centric relation, lip support, incisal edge, occlusal plane, and more. Lab technicians then have to design a proposal of prosthetic teeth and artificial gingival tissue in wax before creating the final denture made from acrylic.

This is a complex and time-consuming process that could require five or more visits with the patient. Also, it involves constant back and forth communication between the dentist and technician making corrections prior to finalizing the prosthesis.

Digital dentures, on the other hand, utilize CAD/CAM software to create the digital design using a digital impression and interocclusal record. The designs are then digitally applied into the final prosthesis by milling or printing the base and teeth in one or two pieces.

If the lab is not already utilizing CAD/CAM to design, preparing for digital dentures requires specialized training, software, and equipment. Despite the possible higher upfront investment, the digital workflow offers improved efficiency almost immediately and delivers improved profitability to the lab, which can then pass on these benefits to its customers.

Why Dental Labs Should Adopt Digital Dentures.

Digital dentures are instrumental in improving the quality of life for edentulous patients. Considering that most of these patients belong to older age groups, frequent visits to the dentist can be difficult for them. On the other hand, a digital denture is ready in as few as two appointments.

Digital dentures are generally stronger and are easier to replicate. They offer a better fit and improved esthetics, and with correct records, a more accurate final occlusion. They’re proving to be more cost-effective for dentists as well. This is why clinicians in growing numbers are developing a preference for dental labs that manufacture dentures using digital technology. Thus, if your lab is slow to adopt a digital denture workflow, you’re going to fall behind your competitors.

Additionally, the digital denture workflow facilitates fast and transparent communication between technicians and clinicians. You no longer have to wait for a dentist to physically send the patient’s clinical records and impressions. Instead, this data is communicated electronically.

Once you’ve created a digital setup, you can share it with your dentist digitally. All of these elements minimize the chances of human error, as well as ensure shorter turnaround times. Ultimately, it creates a win-win situation for all parties involved - patients, technicians, and clinicians.

Digital Denture Production Workflow

Digital denture production involves three major steps:

1. Scanning

A clinician is responsible for making the final impressions and interocclusal records. Intraoral scanners may be used to generate digital final impressions or conventional methods to record the vertical dimension, CR, occlusal plane, and other esthetic parameters.

2. Designing

The scans are sent to the dental lab and the data is entered into a digital denture CAD/CAM software where the setup is designed and finalized for manufacturing. The digital setup can be sent to the clinician for approval or changes made electronically.

3. Milling or printing

Once approved, if requested, a try-in can be created and seated prior to the final. Ideally, upon approval, you can go straight to the final and either mill or print the final prosthesis.

workflow for dental lab for dentures

How to Prepare Your Dental Lab for Digital Dentures

You need to decide the level of integration between digital denture workflows and your current lab setup. What is your budget? First, identify how much or how little of the workflow you want to implement. What is your readiness level or the level with which you are comfortable at starting the process? If you already have digital equipment in your laboratory, will some of it be useful in digital dentures? Consider components such as:

  • Current CAD/CAM software
  • 3D printer
  • Milling machine

Most important, you should seek a trusted system that provides you with end-to-end digital denture solutions. For instance, Sterngold Dental manufactures dental attachments, dental implants, and provides many other dental products, including the Baltic Denture System digital dentures developed by Merz Dental (Germany). This system includes proprietary software, ᴮᴰCreatorPLUS®, as well as prefabricated milling discs (ᴮᴰLoad) to produce a premium final digital denture. The base material and teeth are highly esthetic, porosity-free, and highly durable. The software is easy to learn and is reasonably priced.

dental labs for dentures

Expectations from Clinicians and Patients

So, you’re ready to harness the potential of digital denture technology to provide more value to your clients. Before you take the plunge, it’s essential to identify the key expectations that clinicians and patients have regarding denture production. Let’s take a look.

  • Improved Accuracy - Both patients and dental professionals don’t want the hassle of multiple try-ins and relines. Your accurate records will be the foundation for the final success of your digital denture.
  • Faster Turnaround Times - Patients don’t want to wait for weeks until they can start using their new teeth. Digital denture technology eliminates this problem by making the production and manufacturing process faster and more efficient.
  • Optimal Costs - With digital dentures, you can enable clinicians to offer a premium digital product that will be a better value in the long run compared to conventional dentures.
  • Better Esthetics -Ultimately, clinicians want their patients to have better quality of life. Patients’ self-esteem will increase only when they get natural-looking teeth. Digital dentures step into the picture as a beneficial solution for both patients and clinicians.

Conclusion

Clinicians, based on their patient’s needs, turn to dental labs for dentures that can uplift their patient’s quality of life. As a lab technician, you should seriously consider the latest technical innovations in removable prosthetic dentistry. Digital denture technology is no longer a new development that’s being offered by a few dental labs. It is catching on fast. Instead, it’s becoming the standard for denture production in many dental labs.

If you want to attract new clients and increase customer satisfaction, it’s time to adopt a digital denture workflow with a dedicated and trusted partner like Sterngold.

Ready to start offering digital dentures to your clients? Contact Sterngold to make the transition quick and seamless.