Knowledge Centre.

Written for the practice, not the patient

These articles cover the decisions that determine whether a case goes smoothly: material selection, preparation design, the records a laboratory needs, and the points where a short conversation prevents a remake.

They are written for dentists, prosthodontists and their teams, and they assume clinical knowledge rather than explaining around it. Fifty articles across eight topic groups, each around a thousand words.

Where to start

If remakes are the problem, avoiding remakes and common crown preparation errors between them cover most of the causes.

If shade is the problem, shade communication and anterior shade matching cover the conditions and the case management respectively.

If you are choosing between materials, start with choosing restorative materials. If you are adopting or troubleshooting digital, start with common scan errors.

The eight topic groups

Materials covers the choice between zirconia, lithium disilicate, metal-ceramic, gold and indirect composite. Preparation covers design, margins, restorative space, the recurring errors and impression quality.

Digital covers scan errors, the comparison with conventional records, submission, implant records and photography. Laboratory Communication covers what to send, prescription errors, shade, when we call and how quality control works.

Implant covers component selection, scan bodies, crown design, retention and full-arch planning. Practice Efficiency covers chairside adjustments, remakes, scheduling and choosing a laboratory. Regional covers working with a laboratory in this part of British Columbia. Clinical covers occlusion, surface and wear, cementation, provisionals, connectors, anterior matching and error prevention.

Using them with your team

Several of these work as the basis for a practice meeting — the communication and efficiency groups in particular, which are about how a practice and a laboratory work together rather than about clinical technique.

They are also a reasonable way to bring a new associate up to speed on how your practice works with its laboratory. See the resource library for the practical guides alongside these.