Digital Dental Labs 3: The Future Is Now

“Dentistry is going digital” is a phrase we have been reading and discussing for some time now. Like all major breakthroughs, some approached the concept with excitement and enthusiasm for all the new possibilities, while others remain skeptical. Regardless of personal opinions, the truth is that dentistry has gone digital.

n our previous two Digital Dental Labs features, we brushed on the many aspects of the move into the world of computers, ranging from revolutionary cone beam CT scanning to how Digital Dental Labs are making dentistry safer, more accurate, and easier for the dentist, as well as for the patient.

3D Diagnostix, Inc.
How the Story Began:

3D Diagnostix started in Boston, MA in 2005 working with Harvard School of Dental medicine to provide CBCT 3D reconstructions and Simplant conversions for their patients. The company then expanded to offer more services. Through working with a team of select board certified OMF radiologists 3DDX started offering radiological reports to complement 3D services and eventually started offering complete treatment planning and surgical guide solutions for implant surgeries. 3DDX is now a global provider of post processing services and surgical guides with over 15,000 processed scans and a customer base in more than 10 countries.

Services:

•3D conversions in all major Implant software
•Radiographic Interpretations by board certified OMRs
•Virtual treatment plans with online fine tuning
•Surgical guide ordering and QC for all implant systems (Simplant, Facilitate, NobelGuide, 3i Navigator and Straumann)
•Premiere partner program to help CBCT owners grow their imaging business.

Future Vision of the Industry:

“In the very near future surgical guides will be an integral part of implant surgery. The ease of use, safety and pinpoint accuracy that guides provide enable more and more dentists to expand into placing implants, and existing implant surgeons will find their patients asking for a guide to guarantee surgical results and minimize hassle. Digital labs, as a result, will become essential”–Karim Galil, VP

Competitive Edge:

•The fastest turn around time in the industry (only 4-6 hours for conversions)
•Complete segmentation of entire quadrant or arch
•Treatment plans and unlimited fine tuning sessions are performed by dentists
•Surgical guide service is available for dentists whether they have software or not.
•Easy case sharing with other clinicians with 3DDX Connect™

“3D Diagnostix is all about the customer. Our exceptional attention to our customer is what gives us the edge and establishes us as the company that makes life easier”–Khaled Elsaid, CEO

Availability:

Headquarters in Boston, MA covers the US and Canada from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM EST. Customer support is available via phone, email and online live support.

3DDX uses a secure online HIPPA-compliant system (3DDX Connect) for sending, receiving, sharing, storing and billing for studies.

360 Imaging

How the Story Began:

“I spent many years running the oral surgery department with Practice Works/Kodak, and then opened my own business which was two imaging centers in metro Atlanta. After scanning thousands of patients, I quickly began seeing a trend that many doctors required case work post scan. So many times I would drive to their offices, help them plan cases and even order their guides. One day a doctor told me why don’t you make a business out of it, do everything via web meetings and really begin to help doctors with all this technology? Thus the digital lab was born.”-Mark Palmer, CEO

Services:

•360 Imaging works with all the available planning software and provides surgical guides in a process of: scan-plan-review-guide- fast and accurate surgery. As self-claimed, 360 Imaging is the biggest customer for SimPlant and NobelGuide, and provide quality control for ordered guides. The process takes an estimated couple of weeks from scan to guide
•360 Imaging’s in-house staff of technicians and board certified radiologists create treatment plans and prepare reports.

Future Vision of the Industry:<

“Who knows? As technology grows, hopefully so will our business.”-Mark Palmer, CEO

Competitive Edge:

We have a staff of technicians that have planned more cases than anyone else worldwide that can provide input on every type of case possible. We are also the only company of our kind recognized by the ADA to hold a CE course on virtual planning.

Availability:

Digital lab and corporate HQ are located in Atlanta, GA. 360imaging working hours are 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM EST with customer support available all day via phone and email. 360 Imaging uses their own HIPPA-compliant image transfer portal (360 Client Desktop Application) to send and receive studies more securely than FTP.

“Non software users simply rely on our expertise to get them accurate plans and surgical guides. We walk them through the entire process yet ensure they remain in control.” -Mark Palmer, CEO

nSequence Dental

How the Story Began:

"Our success story stems from the basic desire to provide our clients with the most comprehensive solutions available in dentistry today. I also might add here that the patient always comes first; digital dentistry affords the patient a much more pleasurable, detailed and visually informative experience than conventional analog dentistry. Dentistry desperately needed to become more stream lined in the way that all the specialists communicate, approach, plan and execute the treatment plan. The more real-time systematic information the restorative team can have the better the solution for the patient. The dental lab is not licensed to treatment plan or diagnose but that is what we are called upon to do every day in colaboration with our dentist clients, if we are going to drive dentistry then by digitizing the treatment plan we can keep everyone in a real-time systemized input and output of relative information, therefore digital communication flattens the geographic, time and language barriers and allows information to flow digitally in both directions from all over the world."-Daniel Llop, CEO

Services:

•nSequence is the only Simplant Fastrack Master Site in the nation with Dual Scan Module and Optical Scan Module. This means nSequence can expedite the quality contol, surgical design and turn around time because of our expertise and extensive training. Once nSequence Fastracks your case we need only to send the digital file to Belgium HeadQuarters which cuts down on time and money. The Patent Protected nSequence RRD scan appliance can be used with Simplant software to further reduces costs and turn around time associated with having to make a custom scan appliance

•nSequence supports, develops, and advances all types of implant planning software. The nSoftt protocol is our own CT guided system along with the patent protected Accudental validation model and the nSequence surgical guide

•Radiology reports and treatment plans are prepared and developed by Dr. David Hatcher (Oral and Maxillofacial Radiologist)

•nSequence supports all the usual aspects in surgical guide fabrication. nSequence has a 5 day turnaround time from sign off of the plan. nSoftt protocol eliminates the need for a custom scan appliance thus reducing the costs and delays associated with the total implant therapy, so nSequence drastically decreases the time and cost that is involved with other software systems. nSequence provides extensive quality control for all ordered guides

Future Vision of the Industry:

"We don't like to look at Digital Dentistry as a "market" where one can veer off the tracks of success, rather dentistry is a profession that affords excellent health solutions to people in need. Let's face it, dentistry is digital and it is never going back to analog"-Daniel Llop, CEO

Competitive Edge:

We have never approached dentistry from a competitive edge angle, but rather as a total solution provider to the patient and the dental practice as well as the dental industry as a whole. We are the " Total Solution Provider for Digital Dentistry". Call one place and take care of all aspects of the patients case from Diagnosis to delivery and everything in between.

Availability:

nSequence center for Advanced Dentistry is located in Reno Nevada Suite 205 Kietzke Lane, www.nSequence.com; 775 827 6645 Post scan services and customer support are available, as well as packages for non-software users.

ROE Dental

How the Story Began:

“As an established full service dental laboratory with an emphasis on implant born reconstructions we saw the benefits of Cone Beam CT. We were investigating purchasing CBCT equipment 5 years ago to introduce this technology to our clientele but we decided to partner with dental imaging centers and refocused our efforts on becoming experts at the popular virtual planning software. Assisting dentists with diagnostic planning, scan appliances and virtual implant planning was a better fit for us since it compliment our other services as well as the talents of our staff”-BJ Kowalski, CEO

Services:

•ROE Dental works with Simplant, iDent NobelGuide, Keystone and Blue Sky software providing computer guided implant planning and surgical guides.Turnaround for Blue Sky/iDent guides is typically 48 hours in the lab while Simplant/Nobel Guide take around 2 weeks, but the process could be shorter in the future. Quality control is applied to guides ordered

•Radiology reports are read by a board certified orthodontist/radiologist and treatment plans are created by head technicians

Future Vision of the Industry:

Sees the market as growing gradually based on the increased availability of CBCT and the standard of care for implant placement gradually changing to include CBCT and guided surgery.

Competitive Edge:

“ROE Dental offers a restorative approach to assisting with implant placements and a full complement of laboratory services: aesthetic fixed restorations /dentures /partial dentures/ occlusal splints /scan guides /restorations through true digital technology using dental software.” -BJ Kowalski, CEO

Availability:

ROE Dental Offices are located just outside Cleveland and in Southern Ohio. ROE Dental working hours 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM EST. ROE Dental provides Customer Support during business hours. Online system for sending and receiving cases.

Conclusion:

Despite the different (or the similar) ways of how all of these Digital Dental Labs are operating, they are working to streamline the transition from analogue to digital. They all aim at one goal: to make this transition as easy as possible for dentists.

Today, no one can afford to stay behind technology, and for those who want to jump right into the driver’s cabin of the locomotive, Digital Dental Labs are steaming ahead.

Click here to read Digital Dental Labs