CDEN0210

36 I I feature _ practice management _Let’s be honest: There are times when your laboratory technician simply doesn’t deliver what you envisioned so clearly in your mind—a bit more translucency or a specific gingival colour, a minor mesial rotation on that bicuspid, or an occlusal table that’s just a little too wide. Twenty years ago, when I began my career as a laboratory technician, we had only a few tools at our disposal. Hastily made sketches on the back of prescription pads, a few coloured pencils to indicate body shade, incisal level or some other specific instruction; and sometimes pre-op mod- els were sent. Looking back, I am amazed at what we pieced together given such limited communication tools. Yet that was the best the dentists could provide to the technician, and we had to work from what we had. It was challenging to create the specific re- sults for, say, a single unit anterior crown. Often there were trips between the laboratory and the practice or extra meetings—not to mention costly remakes for everyone. As we improved, we pulled it off, but it wasn’t easy. Fast-forward two decades to the era of the digital camera, e-mail and Skype, and the way we work together is instantly and forever trans- formed. No longer must we guess, imagine or try to convey with facsimiles or mere words. These toolshavetotallychangedthewaythedentistand laboratory technician collaborate on their work, and everyone—the patient included—has been the beneficiary of this technology. Imagine if you had to work without a digital camera today: Film. Developing. Printing. Waiting. Time. Out of focus. Do it again. Wait some more. With today’s digital technology, the clinician can instantly determine whether the information in thephotographwilladequatelyconveyeverything necessary to the technician. Manycasesrequiremorethanashadetabnum- ber written in the shade box on the prescription, cosmeticdentistry 2_2010 Fig. 1_Shade tab placed in the same plane as teeth, ensuring the tab and corresponding shade number is in the photograph. Figs. 2a & b_Smooth preparations allow for impressions to be extremely clear. Figs. 3a & b_It is important to verify the quality of the impression before it is sent to the lab. Voids on the margins require another impression for marginal accuracy. Fig. 3bFig. 3a Fig. 2a Fig. 2bFig.1 You can’t always get what you want (unless you ask clearly!) Author_ Laura Kelly, USA Images_Dr Jeff Morley & LK Dental Studio, USA