5 Signs That You Should Look for a New Dental Lab

In recent years, we have witnessed a growth of the global dental laboratories market. What affected this trend was an increase in the geriatric population, dental tourism in emerging markets, and outsourcing fabrication of prosthetics and restorative products to dental labs.

At this point, partnering with a dental laboratory is not just a necessity, but a norm. However, in a highly competitive market, how can you separate the wheat from the chaff and select the one that will match your needs and criteria? You might have already joined forces with a practice but you’re still unsure whether the choice was right. Being in the industry for years, we know exactly what can be defined as quality dental laboratory services and can tell you exactly which activities point to the fact that you can establish a much better collaboration.

1. Delay in Service and Delivery of Dental Products

The quality of your service is directly affected by the work a dental laboratory conducts – if they are late, your patients are on hold as well. Thus, if the dental office you partnered with suddenly starts to deliver with a (not-so-)slight delay, it is only natural to ask for a reasonable explanation.

Even if everything operated smoothly in the beginning, the growing number of clients might have affected the dental laboratory’s turnaround times. Since this cannot be considered a valid excuse, you are encouraged to seek for a new dental lab that will treat you as if you are their only client, regardless of the number of partners they have at the moment.

2. Miscommunication

To ensure you always receive precisely what you and your patients require, it is imperative that you establish clear communication expectations. You are not expected to micromanage the dental laboratory, but it is highly recommended to check in on a regular basis (eg. once a week) to see whether you understood each other correctly and if they are working on a dental product you ordered.

If you start to notice that communication gaps happen more frequently than before, it is likely that the dental lab might be going through certain internal administrative changes that affect their operations.

3. Lowered Quality

Have you first established a testing period where you check the quality of products a certain dental lab delivers and ended up highly satisfied, only to question now whether their work has decreased in quality?

It is likely that after they felt the bond between you had strengthened, they stopped putting as much work as in the beginning; there might have been changes in staff; they could have changed the quality of materials they are working with, etc. Whichever the case, you – and especially your patients – are entitled to the highest quality dental work that will last for years to come.

At Oceanic Dental Laboratory we guarantee that all of our dental materials and manufacturing processes meet the European standards. We have established strong relationships with the most renowned material manufacturers to ensure all acrylic and denture teeth, along with alloys, ceramics, CAD and implant systems are first-class.

4. Overpriced Service

With product quality lowering and the price of services maintaining its high, you begin to wonder whether you are not getting the value for your money. And you may be right – you have the right to demand to receive what you paid for. And note one thing: never accept the decrease in price instead!

5. Outdated Equipment

To deliver dental products that will meet expectations, a dental laboratory has to take advantage of the latest technical solutions. Only cutting-edge equipment and modern materials can produce the expected results. In our digital dental laboratory, we operate only with the most reliable computer-aided design and manufacturing technologies of today. It allows us to give a more precise diagnosis, create more accurate images, and manufacture better quality products that are bound to satisfy the needs of a modern dental practice.

Conclusion

When your patients’ health is at stake, compromise is not an option. To continually deliver the highest quality dental services and solutions, the dental laboratory you establish the partnership with has to place your patients as a priority as well.

Evaluate the relationship you had so far: even if you collaborated without any hiccups in the beginning, a sudden change of affairs should not be taken lightly. Should any of the above issues occur on a regular basis, consider looking for a new dental laboratory that will match your requirements.