Question about private practice

[ataha]

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Hey everyone, I shadowed a dentist a while back and he had a small 'lab' in the back with a bunch of machines to do impressions instead of sending it to the lab and having to wait for 4-6 weeks for it to come back I was wondering is this a common practice? Does anyone know what that machine is called? I really wish I took notes when shadowing.

 

[NDPitch]

Machines don't do impressions. Are you referring to a cerec machine that made crowns? If so, I wouldn't say it's in a ton of offices. Those things are loads of money, and from my limited experience it seems a lot of dentists still send it to the lab.

 

[Glimmer1991]

I am from a small town and shadowed a local dentist who has been here for many years. He has an E4D machine that makes crowns in-office. He LOVES technology though and likes to keep up with it. Plus, he's a genius. I hope to keep up with stuff like this when I have my own practice, too!

 

[Hawkteeth]

My dad had a lab like that but the dentist I shadowed didn't, but he was younger. I know some schools don't teach you lab work anymore since its becoming more common to send out for that stuff.

 

[ktran17]

Most dental clinics have mini labs to do minor alterations on temporaries, sterilization, bleaching trays and maybe wax ups etc. An impression is normally done at the chair with the patient and sent out to a lab so that a crown can be fabricated.

From my experience, having a CEREC machine or any other equivalent to create an in house crown is not the norm. In the past, using these machines were not economically feasible unless you were pushing out multiple crowns (like corps). In addition the quality was not as good as a top notch lab. I don't know if these problems are still common but were normally the main reasons cited for not purchasing these machines.