“Communication is
the key to success in cosmetic dentistry/laboratory relations”5. To
accurately fabricate dental restorations, effective communication needs to
exist between the dental lab and the dentist to
ultimately provide dental patients with the best dental care. The communication
methods used by the dental lab to collaborate with the dentist is also a major
factor that determines the success or failure of dental lab products.
“Prosthodontics is a discipline that
requires a synergy between the dentist and dental technician in order to
fabricate intraoral prostheses with acceptable fit, function and aesthetics,”
reported by Berry et al.. Although restorative dentistry is first about
restoring the patient’s oral health, and next the esthetic appearance; the
patient’s growing demand for realistic esthetics and long-lasting restorations
is challenging the industry to properly manufacture dental lab products that
exhibit both attributes. Recreating esthetic details that mimic the
patient’s natural teeth is crucial when “subtle details in texture, anatomy, and
contours keep the ceramic restoration from looking contrived and can provide
the element of ‘prefect imperfection’ that natural teeth exhibit”3.
Precise design parameters, shade matching, and available tooth structures
should all be effectively communicated by the clinician to the dental lab to
achieve a highly esthetic restoration that will match the patient’s natural
tooth contours and shades3.
The lab
technician’s ability to match the exact shade to the patient’s teeth is a
challenging aspect of communication; especially, when an increasing number of
patients are demanding esthetically brilliant prostheses. Determining a precise
shade (e.g., color, surface texture, shade characteristics) is first dependent
on the clinician and must be effectively communicated to the lab technician. Exact
shade communication is important because dental technicians are remotely
located and usually never see the patient1. In consonances with a
study on color matching, Seal et al. reported “precise color communication is integral
to the development of esthetic harmony and overall restorative success.”
The communication
methods used by the dental lab are major factors that influence the accuracy of
dental lab products. With the development of software programs and web
applications, dental labs can now use web content management systems (WCMS) to
communicate to dental offices and manage laboratory cases at a faster and more
accurate rate. As stated by Alshiddi, “Laboratory case management is a teamwork
that should involve good communications between not only the dentist and the
dental technician, but also other staff in the dental office (e.g., dental
assistant and receptionist) and dental laboratory (e.g., laboratory owner,
receptionist and delivery person)”5. When managing a high volume of
dental lab cases, the lab must implement an effective content
management system that will manage
all of the dental cases coming from multiple forms of communication methods
(e.g., hand-written lab authorization forms, telephone, email, electronic STL
files, etc.). Equally important is the lab’s understanding of individual
software requirements and design of the software that will essentially, if
implicated correctly, improve communication and will ensure long term
relationships between the dental office and dental laboratory5.
The dental
laboratory must provide great customer service for dentists and their dental
office personnel so all parties can work proficiently together. Providing
excellent dental lab services will lead to satisfied clinicians and comfortable
professional relationships between the clinician and dental
technician/laboratory5. Collaborative technical advice on
routine and complex dental cases is a very important service that dental laboratories
should exceed at every time. The dental lab must have an effective logistic
team to make sure dental cases are fabricated in time for the patient’s
scheduled appointment.
Adequate skills
of the dental laboratory and clinician along with collaborative teamwork
through effective communication leads to high quality dental restorations. When
problems arise from inaccurately fabricated prostheses, the patient will
usually blame the dentist for the mishap. For this reason, it’s imperative
dentists choose the best dental laboratory that can effectively
communicate with their dental office to ensure satisfied patients every time
and to ultimately provide better patient care.