 Practice managers are expected to keep a dental practice moving while balancing patients, clinicians, nurses, reception, compliance, suppliers, finances and an appointment book that rarely behaves itself. A late crown or an unclear laboratory prescription may look like a small production issue from outside the practice. Inside the practice, it can create a cancelled appointment, an unhappy patient, wasted surgery time, pressure on reception and an uncomfortable conversation for the practice manager. The relationship between a practice and its dental laboratory therefore affects much more than the restoration. It influences capacity, team morale, complaint risk, cash flow and the patient journey. After reviewing the recurring concerns raised across dental management discussions, regulatory expectations and complaint-handling guidance, the central frustration is clear: practice managers need reliability and visibility. They do not want to spend their day chasing information that should already be available. Frustration one: Cases that do not arrive when expected
Late work creates an immediate operational problem. The clinician’s surgery has been reserved, the patient may have arranged time away from work and nursing support has been allocated. If the appliance is not available, that capacity may be lost. The true cost is greater than the laboratory invoice. It can include:
A good laboratory should confirm the required date, assess whether it is achievable and flag a problem before the day of fit. A telephone call made early enough to change an appointment is operational support. A telephone call made after the patient has arrived is merely an explanation. At Bremadent, our role is to help practices plan around genuine production requirements. Where a case has a fixed clinical deadline, it should be clearly communicated on the prescription and discussed with us rather than left as an easily missed note. Frustration two: Having to chase for updates One of the most avoidable frustrations is the repeated laboratory chase. Has the scan arrived? Has the case been booked in? Is there a query? Has the technician started it? Will it dispatch today? Is the driver bringing it? Has the parcel left? Each question may take only a few minutes, but the interruptions accumulate. The practice manager or receptionist may have to locate the case, call the laboratory, wait for an answer, update the clinician and sometimes contact the patient. The solution is not simply more communication. It is better-timed communication. Useful updates should answer:
Frustration three: Last-minute technical queries A prescription may arrive without enough information to proceed. The laboratory discovers the gap during production, telephones the practice and waits for the dentist to become available. By then, valuable production time may already have been lost. Common missing information includes:
A better approach is early booking-in assessment. If the laboratory checks the prescription and records before production, the practice can resolve questions while there is still time. We encourage practices to provide complete digital or written prescriptions and to contact us before sending unusual, high-value or deadline-sensitive cases. That short conversation is normally much quicker than managing an unsuccessful fit appointment. Frustration four: Remakes that disrupt the diary A remake creates more than a material cost. It occupies another appointment, extends treatment, delays payment completion and can weaken the patient’s confidence. The cause is not always laboratory-related. Remakes can arise from preparation design, impressions, scans, occlusal records, tooth movement, insufficient clearance, component selection, laboratory production or a combination of factors. The least helpful response is for each party to defend its own stage without examining the full workflow. A useful remake review asks:
Frustration five: Complaints caused by poor communication Dental complaints are not limited to clinical harm. Patients may complain because of delay, unmet expectations, inconsistent information or the way a concern was handled. The joint dental sector guidance on complaints emphasises clear procedures, coordinated explanations, empathy and keeping patients informed about delays. This matters because a laboratory problem can quickly become a practice complaint, even though the patient has never met the technician. A patient may have been told the denture would be ready on Friday. If the practice later discovers that the records were incomplete or the date had never been confirmed, reception is left to manage the disappointment. The laboratory can help reduce this risk by being precise about:
Frustration six: Inconsistent quality Practice managers need consistency across the whole laboratory relationship. A good case followed by an unpredictable one still creates operational risk. Consistency is influenced by:
Practices can also help by standardising their side of the process. Agreed preparation guides, scan protocols, photography standards, denture stages and implant information reduce variation before the case reaches the laboratory. This is where a genuine partnership becomes valuable. The practice and laboratory are not separate islands. They are two stages of the same patient workflow. Frustration seven: Difficulty identifying implant components Implant cases can create disproportionate administrative work when the system, platform or restorative component is unknown. A practice manager may find themselves searching old notes, contacting a previous dentist, asking the patient for an implant passport or sending photographs to several suppliers. An incorrect assumption can result in:
Our implant team can assist practices in working through the available information and identifying what is still needed. However, identification should be verified rather than treated as a visual guess. Several implant connections can appear deceptively similar. Frustration eight: Too many suppliers and too many separate workflows A practice using different laboratories for crowns, dentures, implants, retainers, repairs and pressure-formed appliances may spend significant time coordinating accounts, collections, prescriptions and queries. There can be good reasons to use specialists. The problem arises when fragmentation creates more administration than value. A full-service laboratory can reduce the number of handovers and give the practice a clearer route for support. Bremadent works across crown and bridge, ceramics, implants, prosthetics, orthodontic and pressure-formed services, allowing more cases to be coordinated through one laboratory relationship. This is especially useful for multidisciplinary cases. A patient may require an implant restoration, removable prosthesis and protective appliance. If each stage is considered in isolation, important information can be lost between suppliers. Consolidation is not only about convenience. It can improve continuity and accountability. Frustration nine: Unclear pricing and unexpected extras Practice managers need predictable costs so that treatment plans, clinician discussions and patient estimates remain accurate. Unexpected charges can affect margins and create awkward internal conversations. Equally, laboratories cannot absorb every component, precious metal, special delivery or additional stage without charging appropriately. The answer is transparent pricing supported by clear prescriptions and early case assessment. The practice should know:
Frustration ten: The laboratory does not understand the patient journey A restoration can be technically well made and still create a poor patient experience if the wider treatment journey is ignored. A practice manager sees the consequences when:
For aesthetic cases, photographs should show more than the teeth alone. The technician may need the smile line, facial midline, lip dynamics, tooth display and existing features the patient wants to retain or change. For dentures, information about the current appliance can be extremely valuable. What does the patient like? What do they dislike? Are they asking for improved retention, appearance, phonetics, comfort or all four? The more precisely the desired outcome is communicated, the less likely the result will be judged against an expectation the laboratory never received. Frustration eleven: A lack of support when something goes wrong Practice managers do not need suppliers who disappear when a case becomes difficult. They need people who answer, investigate and help find a practical route forward. A supportive laboratory should be able to distinguish between:
It also changes the tone of the relationship. The question becomes “How do we solve this?” rather than “Whose fault is it?” A practical laboratory checklist for practice managers A practice manager assessing laboratory performance should monitor more than price. Useful questions include:
How Bremadent can reduce pressure on the practice team Our laboratory supports practices across multiple departments, allowing us to help with routine work and more complex restorative planning. We can assist through:
A well-run laboratory relationship gives the practice manager fewer cases to chase, fewer surprises to explain and fewer preventable problems to place back into the appointment book. That creates more predictable surgeries, a calmer team and a better patient experience. We provide a trusted laboratory service delivering consistent quality, saving chairside time, and supporting predictable patient outcomes. 📞: 0208 520 8528 📧: [email protected] 📍: 25A St James Street, London, E17 7PJ
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Private Dental Laboratory in London
 Kash Qureshi - Managing Director, Clinical Dental Technician
About the author:
Kash Qureshi is a Clinical Dental Technician (Denturist) in the U.K who oversees and quality controls over 3000+ fixed and removable prosthesis including implant cases from a clinical and technical aspect monthly at Bremadent Dental Laboratory & Swissedent Denture Clinic in London. www.swissedent.co.uk www.bremadent.co.uk [email protected] Categories
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