Straumann Makes Outsourcing Easy
A prime opportunity to offer customized solutions without compromising workflow
Nearly 50% of dental laboratories outsource the design of their customized abutments.1 The decision requires the laboratory to consider the following key factors: How reputable is the company you’re outsourcing to? Is the company’s staff trained to handle the case with the same care and attention you deliver to your cases that stay in-house? How transparent is your outsourcing service, from fees and turnaround time to quality of materials used? If the dentist calls with a question on the case, is your outsourcing laboratory able to provide any images or support to help you satisfy the doctor’s questions?
Outsourcing the right way is no easy task—and finding the right company to work with is critical to ensuring your referring clinicians’ expectations are met with every case. The right outsourcing service should be a value-add to your laboratory’s repertoire and help grow your business, not detract from it.
DeLux Dental Laboratory in Reading, Pennsylvania outlines three key factors to consider when making the decision to outsource: communication, turnaround time, and value. “We do what is best for the patient,” co-owner Joe Bakanowski says. “When someone makes the decision to do life-changing restorative work, the next question is, ‘How soon can I get it?’” In today’s fast-paced society, turnaround time needs to meet the patient’s expectations every time.
Bakanowski continues, “We had been working with a surgeon and restorative dentist for quite some time planning a rather challenging restoration. After exploring all of our options and factoring in communication, turnaround time, and value, we were confident that entrusting the Straumann® CARES® Scan & Shape team was the right choice.”
In lieu of adding more staff, it becomes imperative to choose an outsourcing partner who can seamlessly serve as an extension of your business, which is why DeLux Laboratory began utilizing CARES Scan & Shape. It provides the dental laboratory a prime opportunity to offer customized solutions without any adjustment to the existing workflow.
Straumann CARES Scan & Shape Service is a dedicated service for laboratories to create original Straumann® CARES® Customized Abutments and CARES® Screw-Retained Bars and Bridges without having an in-laboratory scanner. CARES Scan & Shape delivers the reliability and high-quality products dental professionals expect from a global leader in dentistry, celebrating its 60th anniversary year worldwide and 25th anniversary in the US.
Based on data from the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, it is estimated that more than 30 million Americans do not have any teeth.2 As more patients turn to the Internet for education on treatment options and recognize the benefits of dental implant treatment, the potential financial gain for laboratories restoring these cases with customized bar solutions is great.
The increased demand for customized edentulous solutions led DeLux to try CARES Scan & Shape—and the laboratory couldn’t be happier.
“The bar fit beautifully,” Bakanowski says. Delivery was simple and met the turnaround time the clinician required to schedule the patient to deliver the final restoration, he adds. For any CARES bars, the product is tried in the model at Straumann’s facility prior to shipping to ensure the fit is accurate. Laboratories can confidently rely on consistent delivery times and a precise fit for the final restoration. Heavyweight machines that are 4.2 tons and 6.7 tons feature 4 and 5 simultaneously operating axes and work so precisely that the re-positional deviation of a milled component is less than 0.002 mm. Centralized milling protects the laboratory from hidden costs, costly downtime, and maintenance and labor costs that can occur with in-laboratory milling machines.
Bakanowski is extremely pleased with the high quality of the CARES milled bars. Knowing CDTs handle every CARES Scan & Shape case gives Bakanowski and his staff an added boost of confidence that the case receives the same level of technical expertise and care as if it remained in-house for fabrication. “There is peace of mind when you are working with someone that speaks the same language, understands the needs (of the particular case), and then delivers on the promise (of the fit and turnaround time),” Bakanowski says.
“We appreciate the expertise and great service the Straumann team provided for us. The patient is thrilled, and so is the clinician,” Bakanowski says. “We have been a Straumann customer for many, many years. Expanding our relationship to make CARES Scan & Shape a part of our laboratory was a great business move for us.”
References
1. National Association of Dental Laboratories. 2013 Materials and Equipment Survey Report, 2013:7.
2. American Academy of Implant Dentistry Web site. Dental Implants Fact and Figures. https://www.aaid.com/about/Press_Room/Dental_Implants_FAQ.html. Accessed July 30, 2014.
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