Voices From The Bench

Joining the podcast are Dimitri Tsichlis and Lidia Croteau from Styledent Dental Laboratory (https://www.styledent.com/). This married couple have pulled their skills together to successfully run not one lab, but two. They talk about how they met in college, taking over Dimitri's father's lab in Canada, growing with the help of Lidia's marketing expertise, taking on technology to stay current, opening their lab in Florida, and also some interesting differences between the US and Canada. DOITRIGHT Learn more about the eLAB shade system (https://elabprime.com/) Few things create more interest today than the Digital Denture. Whip Mix (https://whipmix.com/) has developed a processing system for printed dentures, which uses Dentca (https://whipmix.com/products/dentca/), the first 3D-printed denture and denture teeth resins to receive FDA clearance. Their physical properties and biocompatibility pass FDA requirements and enable the printed denture properties to be very similar to conventional dentures. The materia

We've had conversations with lots of technicians on this podcast about the "All-on-Implant" type of restorations. Talking about the time it takes to convert or techniques used, but this week we get to talk to the expert on hybrid full arch prosthetics. Dora Rodrigues from ID Dental Lab (http://iddentallab.com/) started in Portugal at the Malo Clinic (https://maloclinics.com/en/malo-clinic-1) in Lisbon, where Paulo Maló had developed the All-on-4® treatment concept. After accepting the offer to come to America and start a Clinic, Dora decided to stay, open her own "All-on-Implant" lab, and control her own future. She shares tips, tricks, and her amazing story of success. Using 3D printed Dentca Temporary Resin is the easy, fast, clean and accurate way of creating natural-looking temporary restorations using Dentca Temporary C&B 3D Print Resin (https://whipmix.com/products/dentca-temporary-crown-bridge-resin/) from Whip Mix (https://whipmix.com/). The new temporary material is FDA cleared, biocompatible, photo

Back out in the world! We are so happy to see dental lab shows start up again because we miss recording face-to-face so much. Elvis was down at the Preat (https://preat.com/) booth at the Florida Dental Laboratory Association (https://www.fdla.net/)symposium last June. While working the booth, Elvis was able to chat with a few attendees. First up is Don Hebert CDT from Phoenix Dental Design (https://phoenixdentaldesigns.com/) talking about opening his own lab after being laid off during COVID. A great “rising from the ashes story”. Then we chat with Ricardo Marrero who is a young enthusiastic laboratory technician that is helping his dad run a satellite lab in North Carolina for a big lab in Florida called GPS Dental Lab (http://www.gpsdental.com/). And then, because we love to chat with the incoming president of the FDLA, Dory Sartoris from DCS Dental Lab (https://www.dcslab.com/) comes on to talk about how the post-covid show was and what the FDLA is working on to benefit the labs in Florida. Whip Mix (htt

Donate to the Race For the Future 7.0! Aug 28-29 in Chicago, Ill. (http://dentallabfoundation.org/news-events/race-for-the-future/) If you have ever been to a dental show like LMT Lab Day Chicago or Vision 21, you probably have seen a guy with white hair and a white beard with a thick southern accent making a group of people laugh. That is Harold Burdette from "Lab of the Year" Burdette Dental Laboratory (https://www.burdettedental.com/). Harold comes on the podcast to talk about working in his dad's lab back in the 70s (starting during the beginning of PFMs) and growing that business to become one of the longest family owned labs, being a part of the TEREC group (http://terecna.com/), and what a semi-retired technician does when he hands to lab to the next generation in his family. Great stories from a technician that knows it all. Whip Mix (https://www.whipmix.com/) introduces the CUREbox Plus (https://www.whipmix.com/products/curebox-plus/), a new curing unit that ensures the proper and full polymerizati

Donate to the Race For the Future 7.0! Aug 28-29 in Chicago, Ill. (http://dentallabfoundation.org/news-events/race-for-the-future/) We LOVE talking to technicians from other countries. It's always fun to hear from our friends from "across the pond". While on Instagram we saw pictures from ninafdt (https://www.instagram.com/nina_f_dt/), and thought WOW! Turns out that is Nina Frketin from Dencraft Dental Lab (https://www.dencraftuk.com/) in the UK. Nina comes on the podcast to talk about learning about dental technology and going to school in Croatia at an early age, falling in love with removables, discovering a wonderful lab community on-line during the shutdown, and taking her dentures and hybrids to the next level with composites. Be sure to head to the Ladies of the Mill Summit: Refresh, Reflect & Recharge July 23-24 in Chattanooga, TN (https://www.ladiesofthemill.com/) Elvis & Barb will be recording all weekend long at the Preat (https://preat.com/) Booth Whip Mix (https://www.whipmix.com/) is very ex

Be sure to head to the Ladies of the Mill Summit: Refresh, Reflect & Recharge July 23-24 in Chattanooga, TN (https://www.ladiesofthemill.com/) Elvis & Barb will be recording all weekend long at the Preat (https://preat.com/) Booth For VFTB Listeners ONLY! Enter VOICES as the "discount code" when checking out and receive $50 off the registration fee! Offer good until Midnight on July 4th! We are delighted to welcome Carson Law to the podcast! Carson is a Denturist in British Columbia, Canada and she talks about how she found out about the profession, going through the school, and finding her home at Northern Lights Denture Clinic (https://www.nldenture.ca/). What's really impressive is that they have a 100% digital workflow. With a Trios scanner and the Ivoclar P7 mill, they are able to service a ridiculous amount of patients all while making sure they provide amazing service and care. We talk about workflows, scanning edentouls patients, and stories of dentures that could only happen in Canada. Look no fur

Be sure to head to the Ladies of the Mill Summit: Refresh, Reflect & Recharge July 23-24 in Chattanooga, TN (https://www.ladiesofthemill.com/) Elvis & Barb will be recording all weekend long at the Preat (https://preat.com/) Booth For VFTB Listeners ONLY! Enter VOICES as the "discount code" when checking out and receive $50 off the registration fee! Offer good until Midnight on July 4th! Dustin Osburn is from a small town in Arkansas. After finding his way to a dental lab, he quickly excelled to become the removable manager. When that lab got bought out by National Dentex (https://nationaldentex.com/), Dustin was recruited to be the "go-to" trainer for every NDX around the country. After a time running another lab, COVID hit. Dustin and his family had to switch gears and decided to control their own future. With a talent for welding, Dustin converted a van into a mobile removable lab that allows him to service surrounding towns and offer a service that no other lab can offer. Look no further for your design

After traveling the world, Norbert Ulmer found his way to Sirona (https://www.dentsplysirona.com/en-us). After bringing it to the US, Norbert was essential in making CAD/CAM where it is now in dentistry. Now Nobert has started a company called Gro3X (https://www.gro3x.com/). This company brings together dental labs into its family to offer savings and support for success. Nobert talks about his early days selling to labs in England, Germany, and Asia, joining the team at Sirona, bringing it to the US, and the reason why he's dedicated to labs and how any lab can join the Gro3X family. Look no further for your design or milling needs other than right here in our galaxy. Alien Milling Technologies (https://www.alienmilling.com/) is a cutting-edge Dental Milling Center known for using the latest methods and technologies in milling top dental prosthetics. They can help your lab by milling everything, like crowns, abutments, partials, guards, titanium bars, and even digital dentures. Best part is that they are al

When Christina Heaslip from Digital Dental Laboratory (http://www.digitaldentallabs.com/) and Jill Swafford from Oaks Dental Design (https://www.oaksdentaldesigns.com/) went to dental conventions they noticed a lack of female speakers. Both running successful digital labs, they started a group called Ladies of the Mil (https://www.ladiesofthemill.com/)l. The group "was established to give a space to women in the Dental Lab industry". Over the years the group has grown in popularity and is now getting ready to have their first summit July 23-24, 2021 in Chattanooga, Tn. The Summit is titled "Refresh, Reflect & Recharge" and features our industry's first ever 100% female speaker line-up. They come on the podcast to talk about how they started their labs, how they balance the lab life and family life, why and how the idea of Ladies of the Mill got started, and what exciting things are happening at the summit that will make it different than the usual show. Register for the Ladies of the Mill Summit - July 23-24

The biggest magazine in our industry, LMT (https://lmtmag.com/), did a feature called "40 Under 40" that featured different people in our industry that are making a difference. After seeing a few being congratulated on social media, we reached out to two of them to find out more about their great accomplishments. First up we talk to Julia Izumi from Shanto Dental Ceramics (https://shantodental.com/). Julie has a degree in science and dental technology. After spending many years on the bench, she is now the Production Supervisor for the full service lab in Vancouver. Then we chat with Chris Love from Absolute Dental Services (https://www.absolutedentalservices.com/), who after managing a restaurant, worked his way up from the model room to run the whole removable department that is one of the leading labs in digital dentures. Look no further for you design or milling needs other than right here in our galaxy. Alien Milling Technologies (https://www.alienmilling.com/) is a cutting-edge Dental Milling Center k

Larry Wiess from Weiss Advisors (https://weissadvisorsstl.com/) started a company to help other labs after his time with Keller Dental Lab and NDX. Larry has taken his years of experience to assist labs that needed the extra, "outside" help to either prepare for sale or to increase productivity. Jim Gorgol from Distinctive Dental Studio (https://www.ddsltdlab.com/) is looking at eventually retiring. Jim wants to make sure that he can do that comfortably but wants to also make sure that the employees are left in a good spot too. They talk about determining the ultimate goal, setting up milestones along the way, and the type of processes they put in place to reach that goal. Whip Mix (https://www.whipmix.com/)’s new Veriwash (https://www.whipmix.com/products/veriwash/) resin cleaning station is the ideal piece of equipment to use in the 3D printed resin post process. It’s oscillating, multi-speed stirrer produces a tornado-like vortex every 30-seconds, and guarantees efficient, effective and powerful cleaning

Do you know a technician that just started? Working in the model room or opaquing crowns? That person could be the next CEO of a global network of labs. We welcome Laura Kelly who had a similar story. She started at Microdental Laboratories (https://www.microdental.com/) not knowing what a dental lab was and has worked hard to become it's CEO. Along they way she became the first female and the first technician to be the president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD) (https://aacd.com/) and owned her own lab that grew to be purchased by another lab group. She talks about what MicroDental stands for, how they dealt with the pandemic shutdown, and how they came out of it strong. Smile Matters Podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smiles-matter/id1511050834) Whip Mix (https://whipmix.com/) introduces the Bellus3D Dental Pro Face Scanning Solution. This new, practical addition to dentistry provides the dentist with a fast, easy, and affordable way to capture a detailed 3D facial scan

Successfully having the first dental laboratory convention of 2021 took the work of many passionate people involved with the Dental Laboratory Association of Texas (DLAT). While we were not there physically, we were there live, not live from the Argen (https://argen.com/#/) booth. This week we got to talk to: Tim Frezel - Lab owner from Waco Texas Jan Rainey - Retired lab owner now cleaning the air with Pure Air Living (https://pureairliving.com/) Bennett Napier - From the NADL (https://nadl.org/) Keith Wilson - Locale Argen (https://argen.com/#/) rep and amazing "Official Guest Grabber" Enjoy the conversations from the first show of 2021 Whip Mix (https://whipmix.com/) introduces the Bellus3D Dental Pro Face Scanning Solution. This new, practical addition to dentistry provides the dentist with a fast, easy, and affordable way to capture a detailed 3D facial scan and the laboratory an intelligent way to create the smile design. With this app, a complete 3D facial (and even whole head) scan can even be captur

What do you call a group of technicians in Texas? The first successful lab meeting of the year! That's right, back in late March the Dental Laboratory Association of Texas (DLAT) (http://dlat.org/) held their annual conference. It was also the first in-person dental lab meeting of 2021. While we couldn't be there, our good friends at Argen (https://argen.com/#/) set up a laptop, microphone, and some speakers so we could record remotely from their booth. Local Argen rep and all around rockstar Keith Wilson kept us busy bringing by so many great people at the show. This week we have conversations from 5 wonderful attendees/staff/vendors. Cade Tippet Marlin Gohn Fernando Sanchez Jr and Gary Osborn Spencer Watkins Sit back and enjoy the sounds of live "in-person" conversations. Few things create more interest today than the Digital Denture. Whip Mix (https://whipmix.com/) has developed a processing system for printed dentures, which uses Dentca (https://whipmix.com/products/dentca/), the first 3D-printed denture

We take for granted the dental design softwares that are here. Sure is nice that someone took the time to make and teach us all how to use them. On this week's episode we talk to one of the technicians responsible for bringing Exocad (https://exocad.com/) to North America. John Orfanidis has only known the dental laboratory industry. His past lab was the first lab to get the German made software, Exocad. John learned everything he could about the software and then took it across the country teaching and training other labs to use it. John talks about the early days of Exocad, some amazing things you can do with the software, and what is next for Exocad and John. Using 3D printed Dentca Temporary Resin is the easy, fast, clean and accurate way of creating natural-looking temporary restorations using Dentca Temporary C&B 3D Print Resin (https://whipmix.com/products/dentca-temporary-crown-bridge-resin/) from Whip Mix (https://whipmix.com/). The new temporary material is FDA cleared, biocompatible, photocurable

From working with zirconia that gets sintered by the trainload to working with it in a dental lab, Chris Bradley is not a stranger to the dental laboratory industry. In 2008 she partnered with a dental laboratory instrument manufacturer out of Switzerland and started Smile Line USA (https://smilelineusa.com/). Chris talks about the different porcelain mixing trays (https://smilelineusa.com/product-category/mixing-trays/), what make a good porcelain brush (https://smilelineusa.com/product-category/porcelain-brushes/) good, the 80's colors of the United Colors of D. Vinci (https://smilelineusa.com/product-category/smart-accessories/united-colors-of-d-vinci/), and a super cool accessory for your phone to take your photography to the next level. This year she introduces the smartest thing we have seen in a long time. The "My Bench Box" (https://smilelineusa.com/product-category/mybenchbox/) is a fantastic program that allows technicians to try anything before they commit to buying it. Ladies of the Mill Summit:

Every lab relies heavily on design software these days. The two biggest in our industry are 3Shape (https://www.3shape.com/) and ExoCad (https://exocad.com/). But what are the differences? Is one better than the other? This conversation starts the conversation of 3Shape vs ExoCad. Three technicians that use their software every day come on to discuss the differences and the similarities. Not sales people. Not the company. Real technicians that understand the daily struggles lab face every day. Team ExoCad: Matt Mills from Hybrid Technilogies (https://www.hybridtechdental.com/) Team 3Shape: Sevan Pulurian from Pacific Dental Lab (http://pacificdentallab.com/) Team Everything: Enja Dorjchuluun from Winter Springs Dental Lab (https://www.wsdentallab.com/) Aurident (https://www.aurident.com/) offers so much more than just the P5 michine (https://www.aurident.com/p5/). They offer all the needed accessories like Nabertherm furnaces (https://www.aurident.com/furnaces/) and vacuums by Renfert. And all the consumables

Remakes. Adjustments. More Adjustments. Maybe other labs can do flexible partials with ease, but the ones we talk to can't. Doesn't matter which system you use, flexibles in general have a higher remake or adjustment number. With the growing popularity of digital dentistry with removables, it is about time someone stepped up to make a printable flexible partial. Justin Marks from Arfona Printing (https://arfonaprinting.com/) has developed the first printed Valplast flexible partial (https://www.valplast.com/). Justin's grandfather created the first flexible and the family has been carrying on the Valplast legacy. Justin decided that the need of the industry was not just the product, but an ease of service. Justin comes on the podcast to talk about his history of Valplast, the workflow for labs to send to Arfona, and the new faciating method he has developed to print a flexible Valplast partial. Vision 21 this Weekend! Register here (https://nadl.org/events/v21/2021/) and head to Nashville! Dental Laborator

We all know how hard it is to be a dental technician. How about being the only dental technician where you are? Sure it has it's pros and cons and Tom Panei CDT joins us on the podcast to talk about his journey to become a solo lab owner. Tom is a musician, and got a gig at a dental office opening and is now their denture technician. He's also a professional artist and repairs statues. He's a busy guy and talks about the balance he finds in all of them. Aurident (https://www.aurident.com/) offers so much more than just the P5 michine (https://www.aurident.com/p5/). They offer all the needed accessories like Nabertherm furnaces (https://www.aurident.com/furnaces/) and vacuums by Renfert. And all the consumables can be got in one place! Aurident has Delta Zirconia (https://www.aurident.com/delta-zirconia/), Aurident Zr (https://www.aurident.com/aurident-zr-zirconia/), Aurident cutting tools, and Quest pmma (https://www.aurident.com/quest-pmma-shaded/) ! Aurident definitely is a One Stop Shop for any dental la

It's amazing how quick the last three years have gone. Elvis and Barb have enjoyed every minute making this podcast and getting to meet so many wonderful people in our industry. To celebrate your birthday/anniversary, we brought back our very first guest on the podcast, Renata Budny. Renata is an associate professor at the New York City College of Technology (http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/) teaching in the Department of Restorative Dentistry (dental lab) (http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/restorativedentistry/dental-laboratory-aas.aspx). She is joined by two graduates of the program. First up is past podcast guest and co-creator of the Digital Dental Craftsman (https://www.digitaldentalcraftsmen.com/), Jeffry Tobon and Aneeza Hussain who is on her way to become a dentist. They talk about why they went into the program, their experiences at the school, how the school is doing now, and of course, life after graduation. Aurident (https://www.aurident.com/) offers so much more than just the P5 michine (https://www.