It’s that time of year again… Not only is it time to enjoy the upcoming holiday season, but it is time to take advantage of Atlanta Based System’s annual holiday discount!
2024 HOLIDAY DISCOUNT
As appreciation for another great year in the dental lab industry, we are offering a 20% discount on all new Evolution application licenses. This includes every ABS application and module related to the Evolution dental lab management software suite.
As we gear up to celebrate this joyous season with family and friends, ABS is committed to assisting your lab in achieving your most prosperous year yet. Let us help your lab streamline production by alleviating bottle necks and automating communications, thereby improving your bottom line.
Warm regards.
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In a recent article from LMT Magazine, we were given a glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of dental lab owners as they navigate the ever-changing landscape of the industry. With the ongoing labor shortage and the impact of the pandemic, it’s no surprise that dental lab owners have been struggling with staffing issues. However, there is a silver lining: the majority of respondents to LMT’s 2024 Wage Survey say they are adequately staffed, which is a significant improvement from two years ago.
Staffing Factors
One of the key factors contributing to this shift is improved efficiency and the use of technology. By leveraging lab management software and AI design services, dental labs are able to produce more work faster than ever before. Additionally, the use of digital technology has helped to reduce the time-consuming process of pouring models, allowing labs to be more profitable than when they were making restorations by hand.
Another factor that has played a role in the increased satisfaction with staffing levels is the perseverance of lab owners in finding and training the right people. By investing in employee development and creating a positive work environment, dental labs are able to attract and retain talented technicians who are committed to delivering high-quality work.
Improving Efficiency
However, not all labs have experienced success in terms of staffing. Some lab owners have chosen to downsize their staff and focus on the types of cases that generate the highest profit margin. While this approach may not be ideal for all labs, it has allowed some owners to increase their bottom line and maintain a manageable workload.
Despite the challenges faced by dental labs in the industry, there is a sense of optimism and hope for the future. With the implementation of new technologies and the dedication of lab owners to invest in their staff, the future of dental lab management looks bright. By staying informed about the latest innovations and adapting to the changing needs of the industry, dental labs can continue to thrive and provide top-notch care to their patients.
Read More
To learn more about the strategies and solutions that dental labs are using to overcome staffing challenges and embrace efficiency and technology, be sure to check out the full article at LMTmag | LMT’s Exclusive Wage Survey Reports | Efficiency and Technology Easing Personnel Needs. The future is bright for dental labs that are willing to adapt and evolve in order to meet the needs of their clients and stay ahead of the curve. By investing in technology, training their staff, and focusing on efficiency, dental labs can overcome the challenges of the labor shortage and emerge stronger than ever before.
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While Greg Cannom is often the name most associated with Hollywood teeth-making, another artist who has made significant contributions to the world of on-screen horror is Gary Archer. Archer is a highly respected makeup artist and prop maker who has worked on numerous iconic films, creating some of the most memorable and terrifying smiles in Hollywood history.
A Brief Introduction to Gary Archer
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Gary Archer was a dental technician who began his career in the film industry in the late 1970s, working on various movies and TV shows before becoming known for his exceptional work in creating realistic and terrifying teeth. His attention to detail and expertise in crafting custom-made dental prosthetics have made him a valuable asset to many productions in the entertainment industry.
Notable Works and Achievements
Throughout his career, Gary Archer has worked on numerous iconic films, creating some of the most memorable and terrifying smiles in Hollywood history. Some of his most notable works include:
The famous dentures of Robin Williams in “Mrs. Doubtfire” (1993)
The vampire teeth for Tom Cruise in “Interview with the Vampire” (1994)
The iconic chompers for Mike Myers in “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
The werewolf teeth for Michael Paré in “Bad Moon” (1996)
While Archer has not received the same level of recognition as Greg Cannom, his contributions to the world of Hollywood teeth-making are just as significant and impactful.
Inspiration for Aspiring Hollywood Teeth-Makers
For those aspiring to follow in Gary Archer’s footsteps and create their own terrifying Halloween smiles, his work serves as a testament to the power of creativity, attention to detail, and passion for the craft. By studying his techniques and learning from his experiences, young artists can develop their own unique styles and contribute to the ever-evolving world of Hollywood teeth-making.
As we approach Halloween, let us take a moment to appreciate the incredible contributions of Gary Archer and the countless other artists who have dedicated their lives to the craft of Hollywood teeth-making. Their work continues to inspire and terrify audiences worldwide, creating unforgettable moments in film history. Happy haunting, and may the spirit of Gary Archer’s creativity continue to inspire us all.
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As dental lab management continues to evolve, it’s essential to stay ahead of the curve with innovative technology that streamlines workflows and enhances productivity. That’s where EvoTOUCH comes in. Our original technician productivity application is designed specifically for dental lab technicians, offering a comprehensive set of features that improve efficiency and accuracy in the lab.
EvoTOUCH is an integral part of our dental lab management software suite, seamlessly integrating with our other applications to provide a unified, user-friendly experience. With its intuitive touchscreen interface, dental lab technicians can easily clock in and out, check cases in and out of their process, and view or add images and notes for each case. Additionally, EvoTOUCH allows technicians to quickly and accurately enter metal weight, helping to ensure precise and consistent results.
But that’s not all. EvoTOUCH also offers a wealth of resources to assist with the restoration process, providing valuable information and guidance to help dental lab technicians stay informed and up-to-date. With its user-friendly design and comprehensive functionality, EvoTOUCH is the ultimate tool for improving productivity and efficiency in the dental lab.
In today’s fast-paced dental industry, it’s more important than ever to have the right technology in place to help you stay competitive and successful. With EvoTOUCH, dental lab technicians can enjoy the benefits of streamlined workflows, enhanced accuracy, and improved efficiency, all while staying informed and up-to-date on the latest industry trends and best practices. So why wait? Experience the difference that EvoTOUCH can make in your dental lab today. Try our innovative productivity application and discover a new level of efficiency and success.
LEARN MORE
Are you interested in improving workflows, lab efficiency and, ultimately, customer satisfaction at your dental lab? Contact us today!
Follow ABS on FaceBook and Twitter. Please contact us directly if you’d like to learn more about Evolution dental lab management software.
The removable prosthetic market is a crucial player in the dental industry, catering to the needs of patients who require partial or complete dentures. In an effort to gauge the current state of the market, LMT conducted a comprehensive survey, capturing valuable insights from dental laboratories and professionals. The new LMT Removable Prosthetic Survey provides insight into the trends, challenges, and opportunities that shape this market today.
Market Size and Growth
courtesy: lmtmag.com
The LMT survey revealed that the removable prosthetic market has experienced steady growth over the past few years, with a significant portion of dental laboratories reporting an increase in their removable prosthetic production. This growth can be attributed to several factors, including an aging population, advancements in technology, and increased awareness about dental health.
However, despite this growth, the survey also highlighted that the market still faces challenges, such as increasing competition and pricing pressure from low-cost overseas labs. To remain competitive, dental laboratories must continually invest in technology, materials, and skilled labor to deliver high-quality products and services.
Technology and Innovation
The LMT survey underscored the importance of technology in the removable prosthetic market, with digital dentistry playing a significant role in shaping the industry’s future. The adoption of digital tools and techniques, such as CAD/CAM systems, 3D printing, and digital impression technology, has streamlined the production process, improved accuracy, and reduced turnaround times.
courtesy: lmtmag.com
Moreover, the survey revealed that laboratories are increasingly investing in new materials, such as high-impact acrylics, flexible denture bases, and zirconia frameworks, to offer more durable, comfortable, and aesthetically pleasing removable prosthetics.
Customer Satisfaction and Communication
The LMT survey highlighted the importance of customer satisfaction and effective communication in the removable prosthetic market. Respondents emphasized the need for clear communication with clients throughout the production process to ensure accurate case specifications and timely delivery.
Additionally, the survey revealed that laboratories are increasingly focusing on providing value-added services, such as in-office repairs, relines, and custom shade matching, to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Conclusion
The LMT Removable Prosthetic Survey provides valuable insights into the current state of the market, highlighting trends, challenges, and opportunities that shape the industry today. As the demand for removable prosthetics continues to grow, dental laboratories must adapt to the changing landscape by investing in technology, materials, and skilled labor to deliver high-quality products and services that meet the evolving needs of their clients.
LEARN MORE
Are you interested in improving workflows, doctor communications and, ultimately, customer satisfaction at your dental lab? Contact us today!
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Atlanta Based Systems is thrilled to announce our latest partnership with Zimbis smart inventory cabinets. Through our partnership, we have developed a seamless integration of inventory control into your Evolution dental lab management software. With Zimbis you can effortlessly control what parts are coming into, and going out of, your lab.
Additionally, when you sync Evolution with your Zimbis smart inventory cabinets, you can ensure that all charges for parts are correct. You can also ensure that FDA lot numbers are logged, for compliance purposes, without additional input from your technicians.
BENEFITS
The benefits of Zimbis are numerous, including:
Streamlined operations: Say goodbye to manual inventory tracking and the risk of human error. Zimbis does the work for you, allowing you to focus on what you do best – providing high-quality dental products to your clients.
Cost savings: By automating the inventory process, you can reduce the risk of costly mistakes and save on unnecessary expenses, such as overnight shipping and stock-out situations.
Increased efficiency: With real-time monitoring of inventory levels and automatic re-ordering when stock falls below a pre-set threshold, you can ensure that your lab always has the parts it needs to complete orders promptly.
Evolution integration: Implementing Zimbis smart inventory cabinets at your lab will provide you the ability to integrate automatic billing for parts and track FDA lot numbers within your ABS dental lab management software.
OUR COMMITMENT
Atlanta Based Systems is committed to helping you achieve greater efficiency, profitability, and success in your dental lab. We invite you to explore this revolutionary integration and see how it can transform your operations!
About Zimbis Zimbis, a division of CUBEX LLC, is a market leader in developing and delivering innovative health care automation and business intelligence solutions to dentists, dental surgeons and dental laboratories. Zimbis offers a unique ability to meet the demands of a variety of dental environments by offering automated dispensing cabinets, wireless stockroom solutions, cloud-hosted software and more. Additional information about these revolutionary smart cabinets can be found at www.zimbis.com.
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ABS has offered the EvoDOCTOR Portal as an add-on module for Evolution dental lab management software for many years. Since that time, the EvoDOCTOR Portal has “evolved” to improve functionality and integrate newer technologies. Automated email notifications and Evolution pop-up capabilities have also been included in newer versions of the EvoDOCTOR Portal and the Evolution dental lab management solution.
Now, Atlanta Based Systems is introducing a brand-new mobile application that you can provide to your doctors so that they can access all of the information for cases they’ve sent to your lab. The mobile app would be branded with your lab’s logo and colors and will be available for your doctors to download from the Apple and Google Play app stores. And, if your lab is integrated with one of our accepted credit card processors, your doctors can even pay their bills through the app.
WATCH
ABS has you covered with all of your dental lab management and customer communication needs.
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3D Printing has come a long way over the last few decades. As the advancements in the technology have evolved, 3D Printing is becoming increasingly more common in everyday life. It has been used to create life-saving prosthetic limbs for decades and, more recently, has become a low-cost solution to many other manufacturing processes.
Along with prosthetic limbs, manufactured parts and all sorts of knick knacks, 3D printing has also had a significant impact on dental supplies. And, when it comes to dental prosthesis, milled dentures have been the only option for dentists and their patients for nearly a century. With the advent of 3D printing, other options are now available.
History of 3D Printing
The first documented instance of 3D printing can be traced back to the early 1980s in Japan. In 1988, the first commercial rapid prototyping printer (SLA-1) was introduced by 3D Systems. The 1990s experienced a great deal of growth in the 3D Printing industry, with new companies being created and new additive manufacturing being explored. Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine 3D prints first organ for transplant – a lab-grown bladder.
credit: sculpteo.com
The 2000s ushered in open-source 3D printing processes which led to the creation of several new 3D Printers. Then, in 2008, the first commercially available 3D printer called “Darwin” is introduced to the world. Then, in 2009, the FDM patent held by Stratasys expires and the average FDM 3D printer price dropped from $10,00 to under $1,000. In the late 2010s new materials are created for printing things like tissue cartilage and all kinds of other textures. Check out this infographic on the history of 3D printing.
3D Printer Progression Into Dentistry
Although 3D printing for dental professionals began in 1971 as digital dentistry, dental 3D printing and additive manufacturing dental implants have been in development since the 1990s. That is when 3D printing began to be used for reference materials for surgeries. By 1999, advancements in the technology allowed for the construction of custom implants.
credit: dentsplysirona.com
Making the construction of custom implants required the use of an intraoral scanner (IOS). As you probably know, the IOS is used to scan the patient’s teeth, allowing for the design of exact replicas for necessary replacements. Biologically compatible implants have been in production since 2017. These technological advancements with 3D printing in dentistry has improved many aspects of the dental restoration process, including (but not limited to):
Decrease in chair time for patient and dentist.
Less appointments with patient.
Quicker turnaround times.
Easier ability to archive digital impressions for future reference.
More accurate restorations.
Improved results and patient satisfaction.
3D Printing’s Future in Dentistry
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Current 3D printing technologies are fully capable of delivering the significant demand for temporary, transitional, and permanent restorations (both direct and indirect), as well as appliances, and achieving the exacting clinical excellence required by the dental profession. In the future, printing teeth will be the norm and all other restorations will begin to fade away.
The immediate applications of 3D printing in dentistry include:
Permanent and provisional indirect restorations (crowns, onlays, inlays, bridges and permanent, custom restorations fabricated chairside.
Full and partial dentures with digital 3D occlusal design.
Surgical guides for ideal implant positioning and custom 3D printed bone grafts.
Orthodontic aligners printed with CBCT data and AI extrapolation of tooth movement over time.
Printed periodontal guides that relieve and retract gingival margins.
Soft tissue printing is currently in the research phase.
Many modern software platforms are held “in the cloud” and are known as SaaS (Software as a Service). Although this model may have some desirable advantages, such as access from any device with an internet connection and minimal hardware maintenance, there are also some serious down sides.
When you take into consideration that “the cloud” is just a trendy term for OPCs (other people’s computers), you can better understand the concerns with storing your lab’s sensitive customer data in it.
SECURITY VUNERABILITIES
image: datacenterknowledge.com
The biggest issue with cloud services is security. That’s because you are storing your data somewhere else and you don’t have direct access to (or control over) it. Leaving this critical information in the hands of a faceless third-party could leave your business extremely vulnerable. You’ve probably heard about data breaches in some big companies that have exposed millions of their users’ sensitive information.
Another major downside of using cloud software for your business can be connectivity. Since cloud computing typically requires a high-speed internet connection, access to your customer’s data can be interrupted for undetermined amounts of time. Sometimes this could be due to an internet disruption on your end, but it could also be due to “maintenance” on the cloud server that your data is being stored on. Many times, the maintenance disruptions to your cloud software are unannounced and extremely frustrating.
You may have recently experienced some downtime during critical business hours if you’re currently using cloud-based lab management software. (You know who you are). This can be extremely detrimental for a business who is relying solely on cloud software for scheduling new cases and billing their customers.
ABS EVOLUTION IS *NOT* CLOUD-BASED
ABS offers an alternative to the ubiquitous cloud-based dental lab management software. Evolution is a local, server-client software, where the data is stored on your local computer. This gives you and your lab full control over your sensitive data. You own it. It’s yours. Once Evolution is installed on your machine, you will forever have access to your customers’ case info.
And, even though the software itself is local, ABS still has the ability to setup services for your customers to access their own case information through the internet. This allows data files to be transferred directly into your lab management software. Our ABS Support staff will gladly help you setup a robust lab management system with all of the bells and whistles. If you’d like to know more, please feel free to reach out to us any time.
LEARN MORE ABOUT EVOLUTION
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Man’s best friend has fought alongside soldiers since the ancient times. Military dogs take on indispensable roles like tracking, explosive detection and search and rescue. So, needless to say, those Military Working Dogs (MWDs) deserve the proper dental care needed to stay healthy.
DOG DENTAL CARE TRAINING
credit: militarytimes.com
Thanks to the 60th Dental Squadron and the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, military dentists are receiving training on how to provide proper dental care to dogs. Since their teeth are their most effective weapon, it’s important that they maintain good oral health to be effective.
“…the partnership took shape in the form of the first-ever MWD dental health joint symposium, June 28, 2023, at UC Davis with a series of training workshops covering topics such as periodontal disease, vital pulp therapy, root canal therapy, and tooth wear.”
UNIQUE TRAINING RESULTS
One major result of this unique training is the development of new military dental residents. This will impact MWD dental care knowledge across the globe. Trainees will be able to transfer their expertise into the field and conduct dental exams, perform dental procedures, and provide post-operative care for these dogs.
“The collaboration serves as an example of the power of community partnerships and their ability to drive significant positive change. The joint commitment helps to ensure the MWDs serving at Travis Air Force Base and beyond receive the dental care required to serve.”
Customer Login
Another major downside of using cloud software for your business can be connectivity. Since cloud computing typically requires a high-speed internet connection, access to your customer’s data can be interrupted for undetermined amounts of time. Sometimes this could be due to an internet disruption on your end, but it could also be due to “maintenance” on the cloud server that your data is being stored on. Many times, the maintenance disruptions to your cloud software are unannounced and extremely frustrating.
