Discerning between dental laboratories – David Hands- CosTech Elite
Featured Products Promotional FeaturesPosted by: Dental Design 7th May 2019
Your choice of dental laboratory can impact the service you provide your patients in many ways. After all, your dental laboratory needs to be able to support you with relevant products and services.
With this in mind, there are certain things you should look for when deciding which dental laboratory is right for you.
What can they do?
Not every lab has a wide range of products available. For many practices this is fine – if you are only looking for crown and bridgework and/or dentures then there is nothing wrong with choosing a laboratory that offers a smaller selection of products.
However, it is worth considering whether your practice will branch out into other specialities. Is it a possibility that you or an associate will want to start offering orthodontics or dental implants to patients in the future? It’s always good to have options and by choosing a laboratory that offers a wide range of products including implants, prosthetics, laminates etc. you can guarantee that they will remain a reliable choice if your business goes in a new direction or expands its patient base. This, in turn, means you can avoid the stress of finding a new laboratory to cater to your needs.
Quality and accreditations
It stands to reason that any organisation is only as good as its members. Therefore, it’s worthwhile ascertaining how experienced the technicians are that work in a laboratory. More experienced professionals are likely to be able to craft better standard restorations, and most dental laboratories will make a point of highlighting the experience levels of their team on their website as a selling point.
It’s also valuable to see what sort of quality control and guarantees a laboratory has in place. Stringent quality control checks are a good sign, as they will likely stop any substandard restorations reaching you and your patients. A DAMAS (Dental Appliance Manufacturers Audit Scheme) accreditation is also a trustworthy marker of quality, as any laboratories holding this honour will undergo rigorous annual audits so that standards don’t slip.
Unique options that benefit you
The dental laboratory market is very competitive. With so many laboratories vying for business it is likely that they will all try to offer unique benefits to attract clients. Whether this is case priority for new or loyal customers or even a personal delivery/pick up service, these extra benefits are worth exploring.
Regardless of whether you offer both NHS and private services or only see patients on a private basis, it’s important to know whether your dental laboratory takes this into consideration. Good dental laboratories will have dedicated private and NHS departments. This allows them to separate cases into manageable workloads with appropriate timeframes, meaning that you can rely on them to return products efficiently and reduce the risk of delays.
The value is right
Of course, as well as ensuring that your laboratory can offer you the services, products and reliability that you require, price is always going to come into consideration. Dental practices are also businesses, and therefore you need to balance the books and ensure that you are getting the best value for a price that is within your grasp.
Most laboratories will have a price list available on their website, however, you should not take into consideration numbers alone. It’s essential to also consider factors such as distance, ease of communication and other factors that are more important for a long-term business relationship. After all, a laboratory may be slightly more expensive, but if it can offer you faster delivery or better communication it is probably a better choice in the long run.
CosTech Dental Laboratory offers competitive pricing as just one of its many benefits. Not only does the lab provide a huge selection of different products, including superior quality crown and bridgework, laminates, implants and more, but it also has a personal pick up and delivery service in some areas of the UK, as well as express services available in emergency cases.
A choice you can trust
Once you have weighed up all of these factors, choosing a dental laboratory that suits the way your practice works should be straightforward. It’s always important to remember that your laboratory should be able to support you through thick and thin, meaning great products, excellent service and ease of communication come first.
For more information about CosTech Dental Laboratory, please visit www.costech.co.ukor call 01474 320076
David Hands
MDT GDC Reg. Technician| GDC Reg No: 127133
Elite Manager and Director
David studied Dental Technology at Lambeth College, in 1999 achieving a BTEC national diploma in science and dental technology and an HNC in dental technology. He then trained with Master Technicians in the USA in ‘Advanced Aesthetics and Smile Design’ gaining Master Technician status himself. He joined CosTech Elite in 2004.
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