In today’s production-focused dental practices, chairtime is a critical resource. Each additional adjustment, remake, or follow-up appointment directly impacts profitability, patient satisfaction, and team efficiency.
While clinical excellence begins in the operatory, sustained efficiency is achieved through strong alignment between the practice and the laboratory. As a national laboratory supporting thousands of clinicians across private practices and DSOs, DDS Lab sees a consistent pattern: chairtime reduction is rarely about speed — it is about system design. The modern dental playbook is not about cutting corners, but building smarter workflows that deliver predictable, first-pass success.Below are key opportunities to reduce chairtime and remakes by addressing the most common workflow breakdowns between the clinic and the lab.
Efficient cases begin with restoration-driven preparation design. Insufficient reduction, sharp internal line angles, or inconsistent taper frequently result in redesigns, delayed approvals, or compromised esthetics.
Best practices include:
When preparation design aligns with material selection and digital manufacturing parameters, cases move through production with fewer interruptions — reducing redesign cycles, minimizing chairside adjustments, and accelerating delivery.
Our technical teams frequently support doctors with restoration-driven prep guidance to ensure the design phase reflects clinical intent from the start.
High-quality clinical photography is an essential communication tool. Accurate images support shade matching, surface texture development, translucency control, and emergence profile design.
Comprehensive visual documentation reduces clarification requests and enables our technicians to design restorations that meet esthetic expectations the first time — limiting additional appointments and adjustments.
In high-esthetic workflows, photography is not optional — it is foundational to predictable outcomes.
When combined with digital case review tools such as DDS Lab’s Design Vault™, photography becomes part of a structured collaboration process — not just supplemental documentation.
Whether analog or digital, impression accuracy directly affects restoration fit and seat time. Poor margin capture or distortion often leads to remakes, delays, or excessive chairside adjustments.
Key considerations:
High-quality input data enables precise design execution, streamlined production, and more predictable seating — reducing the need for chairside modification.
Practices that standardize digital scan review protocols prior to submission often see meaningful reductions in remake rates and seat-time adjustments.
Unmarked or poorly defined margins are a leading cause of back-and-forth communication and delayed case progression.
Best practices include:
Clear margin definition reduces interpretation, redesigns, and case holds which significantly improves first-pass fit.
When practices prefer, DDS Lab technicians can mark margins on their behalf. Margin marking completed by our team is fully warranted for fit — an additional safeguard designed to reduce delays and protect clinical outcomes.
Efficient practices focus on clear, complete communication, not increased volume of communication. Missing information or unclear expectations can significantly slow case progression.
To optimize communication:
Clear communication minimizes workflow friction and improves first-pass success — reducing avoidable chairtime and protecting production schedules.
Standardized submission protocols across multi-doctor or multi-location practices create even greater gains by eliminating variability.
Many chairtime challenges are the result of preventable workflow disruptions.
Common delays include:
Proactive planning, standardized processes, and real-time collaboration tools significantly reduce these disruptions and accelerate case progression.
In digitally integrated workflows, design previews can be reviewed and approved within hours — eliminating unnecessary case holds and compressing production timelines.
Reducing chairtime is not solely a clinical objective — it is an operational and financial imperative.
Industry benchmarks often estimate fully burdened chairtime costs at approximately $500–$600 per hour when factoring doctor time, assistant support, overhead, and opportunity cost. Even small inefficiencies compound quickly.
Practices that maintain strong lab partnerships experience:
In removable workflows, the impact becomes even more pronounced. Digitally produced 3D Printed Dentures can reduce 2–3 clinical visits per case compared to traditional analog processes — creating meaningful savings in both time and operational cost.
Learn how DDS Lab’s 3D Printed Denture workflow reduces visits, remakes, and fracture risk →
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