Many dentists avoid integrating denture work into their practice, finding it to not be cost-effective for the amount of work, remakes and chair time that go into getting the right fit. Richard Wilson, DDS, cofounder and chief clinical consultant and director at Partners Elite Dental Laboratory Services, LLC, is not one of those dentists.
He embraces denture work in his practice, largely due to the streamlined digital manufacturing process that he employs in his operatory and in-house lab for the production of removable monolithic dentures. He’s found that a digital workflow with the Ivotion Denture System from Ivoclar Vivadent eliminates the processing mistakes (and human error) that cause delays, poor-quality dentures, and increased chair time, all while producing a superior final product.
“The No. 1 thing is minimizing delays and knowing you’re going to get a certain product at the very end with Ivotion,” he says. “You need to know you’re going to get guaranteed esthetics, and I’ve found a digital workflow ensures this more than the conventional way of making dentures.”
The digital Ivotion Denture System is an integrated workflow of digital laboratory fabrication methods that incorporates materials from Ivoclar Vivadent, scanning and software from 3Shape, and milling from Ivoclar’s PrograMill. Because the process is digital, the need to fabricate time-consuming models is eliminated, and a quick scan gathers all the necessary information. Additionally, the accurate milling greatly reduces manual adjustments after production (most dentures just require polishing after manufacturing), hastening turnaround time and eliminating repeated try-ins. Since he began using the system in November 2020, Dr Wilson has found that this accuracy has saved him chair time and phoneline time.
“You’re not going to have these hour-long adjustment chair times,” Dr Wilson says. “You’re going to have 10-minute adjustment chair times; most of the time, these dentures just drop in, and it’s done. Maybe the patient comes back once for a small adjustment, due to their personal preference, but it’s rare. It’s a world of difference.”
Made of high-quality, long-lasting polymethyl methacrylate material, the discs’ unique shell geometry (a 3-dimensional tooth and dental arch structure designed for fabricating mandibular and maxillary dentures) allows monolithic complete or individual complete dentures, immediate complete dentures, or overdentures on 2 attachments to be milled from 1 disc in a single, uninterrupted milling process. For oversize processes, 2 Ivotion discs of tooth and denture base material can be used, providing fast and easy bonding of tooth segments with high-impact strength.
Ivotion Denture System
Ivotion is a monolithic, single-disc milling solution for advanced digital denture workflows. Combining high-quality tooth and denture base materials in a single bicolor disc, it provides digital laboratories and clinicians with an efficient, predictable, monolithic milling solution. It features shell geometry, a data-based 3-dimensional tooth and dental arch structure suitable for the digital fabrication of removable upper and lower dentures.
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“Even in oversize milling, teeth don’t break off,” he says. “Teeth breaking off is a big inconvenience for the patient—and not only for them but for the practice as well, as you have to make time to deal with these faults. And with Ivotion’s materials, you just don’t see that happening.”
Dr Wilson also believes Ivotion can help practices’ bottom lines in more ways than just saving time. Since the process is quick and easy, he says dentists can do the entire process themselves, without needing extra staff.
“If the doctor is willing to get the design in and get it to manufacturing, he or she can save a lot of money because they can do it instead of having in-house staff to handle it,” he says. “So there are a lot of benefits to the dentists and to the labs because there are fewer lab technicians out there.”
In addition to being beneficial to his workflow (and his practice’s bottom line), he has found that Ivotion dentures affect patient satisfaction.
“Patients these days are expecting a certain type of product and level of treatment,” Dr Wilson says. “I think any [dentists who offer] Ivotion will separate themselves.”
