You probably know the routine: order forms by fax, patient photos by WhatsApp, questions by phone, status updates by email, and in the end a piece of information is still missing. Media breaks between practice and lab are not the exception but everyday reality. And that reality costs time, patience and often quality. In this article we look at the five reasons practices hear most often when they ask their lab about digital workflows, and what each of them means for your practice.
Reason 1: Habit
“We've always done it this way.” Habit is one of the strongest forces in any business. Processes that have grown over years feel right, even when they are objectively cumbersome. The fax machine has stood in the lab for years, the order form has proven itself, the phone number is saved in your practice. Why change anything?
Because every analogue interface is a risk, and it is your practice that carries it. An illegible order form leads to a follow-up question that can move your fitting appointment. A photo sent via WhatsApp gets lost in the chat history. A verbal agreement is remembered differently by each side. The cost of this friction is real. It just never appears on an invoice; it shows up as rework, rescheduled appointments and dissatisfied patients.
Reason 2: Cost
“A digital solution is too expensive.” The cost of digital case handling is visible and quantifiable. The cost of the status quo is invisible, but it is incurred all the same, on both sides: every follow-up question, every photo sent later and every clarification by phone interrupts your treatment day.
Add to that errors caused by incomplete information, duplicated work caused by misunderstandings, and the hard-to-quantify cost of asking a patient to come back a second time. Try counting for one month how often your practice picks up the phone about an ongoing case.
Reason 3: Assumed demand
“Practices don't want that.” This assumption is usually based on guesswork, not on demand. Many practices already work with intraoral scanners and digital records. With a full appointment book, nobody wants to spend time on the phone discussing shades or order details.
What practices need: clear processes, reliable dates and the certainty that all information has arrived complete. If your lab does not offer that, it is not because your expectations are too high. Raise it, or work with a partner who already offers these workflows.
Reason 4: Time
“We don't have time for the switch.” Understandable. Labs are busy too, and changing systems sounds like effort. But the question is not whether there is time for a switch; it is how much time the current process costs every day, in your practice as much as in the lab.
A switch does not have to be abrupt. The most pragmatic route is step by step: first complete orders with all required details, then a standardised photo and scan protocol, then one dedicated contact who knows your cases. Every step saves your practice team follow-up questions and calls.
Reason 5: It works
“It works, doesn't it?” In the short term, yes. The fax workflow works, but only in the sense that orders arrive somehow and work gets finished somehow. “Somehow” is not a standard you want to base your scheduling and your patients' care on.
Dentistry is becoming more digital: intraoral scanners replace impressions, CAD/CAM workflows replace manual steps, digital case handover replaces the fax machine. Practices that work digitally themselves rightly expect partners who do the same.
What to look for as a practice
Going digital does not mean changing everything at once. When it comes to your patients' restorations, look for three things: first, an immediate check of your documents, with feedback if anything is missing. Second, a standardised photo and scan protocol so that everything is documented and traceable. Third, one dedicated contact and predictable delivery dates, so you always know where you stand.
This is how you work with BWF Prothetik & Ästhetik, your partner for premium dental restorations: you hand over cases digitally by intraoral scan or as an impression, with a photo protocol and order form. We check the documents and get back to you straight away if anything is missing. The delivery date is predictable. Any questions are settled with your dedicated contact.
