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Most dental clinics outsource their prosthetic work to an external laboratory. The dentist takes an impression or scan, sends it out, and waits 7–14 days for the crown, veneer, or bridge to come back. During that wait, the patient wears a temporary. If the temporary fails, they have an emergency. If the lab work arrives and the fit is not quite right, another week is added. The external lab model is the industry standard, and it works — but it is slow, it creates communication gaps between the clinician who knows the patient and the technician who builds the restoration, and it makes same-visit dentistry almost impossible.
Dazzle Dental Clinic’s in-house digital laboratory eliminates most of these friction points. Read more about how this compares in our dental aesthetics and in-house lab article.
What the In-House Lab Actually Contains
The lab is built around a digital workflow that begins with the intraoral scanner (TRIOS 3 and TRIOS 5, 3Shape) and follows through to fabrication:
Design: CAD software (3Shape Dental System) is used by the lab technician and prosthodontist together to design crowns, veneers, onlays, bridges, and implant prosthetics from the intraoral scan data. The digital design is reviewed by the clinical team before any material is committed to fabrication.
Milling: The Amann Girrbach milling unit subtracts material from pre-fabricated ceramic blocks (zirconia or E.max) to produce the designed restoration. Milling time: 20–60 minutes for a single unit. Zirconia is then sintered in the Ivoclar Programat furnace — a process that takes approximately 2 hours but can be scheduled around the patient’s appointment.
Printing: The Asiga Max UV 3D printer is used for provisional crowns, surgical guides, and study models. Print time for a surgical guide: 2–3 hours. For provisional restorations: under 1 hour.
Finishing: Staining, glazing, and characterisation are performed in the lab. Ceramics are finished to match natural tooth translucency and surface texture — this step cannot be automated and requires skilled technician time.
What It Changes Clinically
Same-day or next-day crown delivery: For straightforward single-unit zirconia molar crowns: scan at appointment one, design reviewed and approved, milling and sintering completed within the day, cemented at appointment two the next morning. For cases where the design requires no further review: sometimes same-day.
Intraoperative modification: If the try-in of a veneer reveals a marginal shape that needs adjustment, the modification is made on the digital design and the restoration is re-milled in under an hour. With an external lab, the same modification would require the restoration to be shipped back, adjusted, and returned — days to a week.
International patient compression: Patients travelling from abroad have a fixed window. The in-house lab means that the crown delivery appointment happens within the same visit rather than requiring a return trip for a provisional followed by another return trip for the final.
Full-arch provisional fabrication before surgery: For same-day All-on-4 and zygomatic implant cases, the provisional bridge is designed pre-surgically from CBCT and intraoral scan data, then fabricated in the lab while the patient is in surgery. It is attached at the end of the surgical appointment.
What It Doesn’t Change
The in-house lab does not replace clinical skill with technology. A well-milled zirconia crown that is designed incorrectly — wrong occlusal anatomy, wrong emergence profile, wrong shade prescription — will produce a poor clinical result regardless of how fast it was made. The value of the in-house lab is in the iteration speed and communication quality between the clinician and technician — it does not substitute for either. At Dazzle, every restoration is reviewed and approved by the prosthodontist before cementation, regardless of whether it was fabricated in-house or (in rare cases) externally.
FAQs
Q1: Can I get a crown in one appointment at Dazzle?
For straightforward single-unit posterior zirconia crowns: same-day delivery is possible in many cases. The appointment involves preparation, intraoral scan, design review, milling (approximately 20–60 minutes), and cementation. For anterior crowns requiring shade characterisation or multi-unit cases, a second appointment is typically more appropriate.
Q2: What is the quality difference between in-house and external lab restorations?
With equivalent equipment and technician skill, there is no inherent quality difference. The in-house advantage is speed of iteration and communication quality. Where external labs add value is in volume-scale finishing work — large external labs with dedicated shade specialists can produce exceptional anterior ceramics. At Dazzle, complex anterior aesthetic cases may involve a collaborative approach with a specialist ceramist where the aesthetic demand warrants it.
Q3: Does the in-house lab affect the cost of treatment?
It removes the external lab markup and the additional appointment cost associated with provisional restorations during external lab turnaround. For most patients this means fewer appointments and equivalent or lower total cost compared to a clinic outsourcing the same work.
Q4: Can I see the digital design of my restoration before it is made?
Yes. For veneers and smile makeover cases, the digital design is reviewed with the patient as a standard step. For crowns, the design is reviewed by the clinical team internally before fabrication. If the patient wants to see and understand the design, this is arranged at the consultation appointment.
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