donna.riggins@comcast.net a écrit :

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I think that for yourself, the best way to 'know the enemy' would be to
ask to see the work that is possible in a real patient's mouth. Then
you would  be able to evaluate where and what you can do to make the
lab processed in/onlays/crowns more attractive. Where I am at the
moment, the CEREC dentists do onlays and the others do crowns. A few
visits to your more openminded customers, with a few models with, say,
a porcelain in/onlay, a Simfony inlay bridge and a gold onlay should
educate them as to what is possible and to the fact that those preps
are much more concervative. In most cases, if a dentist has invested in
a machine, s/he won't go back. I would say that the key is to get some
of your more traditional dentists doing more partial coverage work.

There is a lab version of CEREC as well. If you could convince your
customers to scan the teeth and send you the data via the Internet, you
could perhaps deliver the milled blocks while the patient waits in the
chair.

One of the dentists that posts regularly here does things like cut a
tooth prep, scan it, and while the machine is milling the onlay, he'll
finish the root canal and then cement the thing in right then. That
kind of treatment would perhaps give you enough time to get the data,
grind one out and have it delivered.

I hope you get some other opinions on the automated process.

Cheers
SP

I have all the respect in the world for dental laboratory technicians.
However, with the current status of dental technology (regarding man-power
and the age of the average technician), you will need to get used to it.
For the really involved and difficult cases and for the FPD work, the CEREC
machine cannot compare to the excellence of a GREAT laboratory technician,
but for single units, well, you can expect to see less of that market in the
future.  Custom abutments for implants and most of the implant crowns will
stay in your pallpark as well.

Please hang around the NG and offer your viewpoint from the laboratory
technology aspect of things.