Guide · Working with the lab
How to choose a dental lab for implant restorations
The five criteria that matter most, the questions to ask a dental lab before your first implant case, and why each answer shapes the work you get back.
Short answer
A dental lab for implant work is best chosen on five criteria you can check: verifiable credentials with a named technical lead, quality that repeats case after case, a check-in that asks before building, turnaround known before you submit with a case you can follow by stage, and compatibility with your files and components. Size and price come second.
Step by step
- 01
Ask who is responsible for the lab and how it is registered
Ask who is technically responsible for the lab and what registration or certification it holds. The rules depend on the country: a Brazilian lab answers with a name and a regional dental council (CRO) number, while in the US certification such as CDL is voluntary. Either way, the answer is a name and a number you can check.
- 02
Confirm how cases come in, by scan or impression
Ask which files the lab takes (STL or your scanner's native format), whether it accepts impressions, and where the file goes. A good answer is specific to your scanner and puts the file on the order itself, not behind a link that asks for a login or expires.
- 03
Name your implant system
Give the brands and platforms you place most and ask which components the lab works with (Ti-base, abutment, screw) and who supplies them. The wrong platform means the wrong part, so settle this before the first case, not at try-in.
- 04
Ask what happens when something is missing
Ask whether cases are checked at intake and what the lab does when a readable margin, the opposing arch, the shade or the platform is missing. The answer that protects you: the case stops, the reason is logged, and someone contacts you before anything is built.
- 05
Ask who checks the restoration before it ships
Ask what gets checked before a restoration leaves the lab, and by whom. A concrete answer says what is checked and where it is logged; "rigorous quality control" with nothing behind it is not an answer.
- 06
Ask when you learn the turnaround
Ask for each service's turnaround in business days and when you find out: before you submit, or only after the case arrives. Ask how rush cases work and how the lab tells you a case is running late.
- 07
See how you will follow the case
Ask how you'll know a case's stage without calling, and where messages and files live. A good sign is one record per case, with dates and times, rather than texts scattered across someone's personal phone.
- 08
Agree on adjustments and remakes before the first case
Ask what the lab adjusts, what it remakes, for how long, and who pays when a restoration fits the model but not the mouth, the point where dentists and labs most often disagree. Agreed up front, it's a policy; discovered after the first remake, it's an argument.
How do you know a dental lab can be trusted?
A trustworthy dental lab is one that lets you verify what it promises, starting with its credentials, and the rules depend on where the lab works. In Brazil, every dental lab must register with the regional dental council (CRO) of its state and display the registration certificate where it can be seen (Decree 87,689/1982, arts. 4 and 5).
Brazilian law also requires advertising aimed at dentists to carry the lab’s name, the name of the person responsible and the CRO number (Law 6,710/1979, art. 4). The same law bars dental technicians from treating patients or advertising to the public: the lab works for the dentist.
In the US, lab certification is voluntary. The National Board for Certification in Dental Laboratory Technology awards the Certified Dental Laboratory (CDL) credential to labs that meet its standards for quality assurance, safety, infection control and case management. A CDL lab also has to employ at least one Certified Dental Technician.
The rest you check with cases. After the first one, you’ll know whether the turnaround came before you submitted, whether the lab asked when something was missing, and whether the restoration matched the prescription.
Why does each question to the lab matter?
Each question to ask a dental lab before your first case protects one part of the case that, when it fails, comes back to your chair.
| what to ask | why it matters |
|---|---|
| Who is responsible, and the lab’s registration | It’s the baseline, and it puts a name on the work |
| Files and impressions accepted | A file that won’t open or arrives incomplete stops the case before design |
| Components for your implant system | Every system has its own connection; the wrong platform means the wrong part |
| Check-in at intake | Incomplete prescriptions are common; a lab that asks turns a remake into a message |
| Who checks before it ships | It’s what separates quality that repeats from quality that drifts |
| Turnaround before you submit | You book the patient on a date, not an estimate |
| How you follow the case | Without a record, the delay shows up on the day of the appointment |
| Adjustments and remakes | It’s the hardest conversation after a problem and the easiest one before |
Check-in matters because incomplete prescriptions are common. In a survey of 85 dental technicians in India, published in the Journal of Indian Prosthodontic Society in 2020, 69% said the margin design appeared on fewer than a quarter of the work authorizations they received.
What to check on your side before you submit is in our guide to what holds up a lab case. The most common causes of remakes are in why implant crowns get remade.
Is the biggest lab the safest choice?
A dental lab’s size says little about your next case; what makes dentists switch labs is quality that drifts. In a survey by LMT and Dental Economics published in 2019, 46% of dentists had switched their primary lab in the previous five years. Inconsistent work was the reason 71% gave for ending their last lab relationship, and price was a factor for only about a third.
The same survey asked what dentists look for in a new lab: high-quality work, good communication and reasonable prices, in that order. And 44% found their last lab through a referral from another dentist, so it’s worth asking the colleague who recommends a lab how it answers the eight questions above.
How does Smile Digital Lab answer these questions?
Smile Digital Lab is a digital dental lab in São Paulo, Brazil, specializing in zirconia on implants. Our technical director is Gabriel Baldasserini Guimarães, CRO-SP 109.697, and his name is in the footer of every page. Production is run by Milton, who has nearly 20 years at the bench, and more than 2,000 cases have left this lab. Our materials come from manufacturers you know by name: Aidite zirconia, IPS e.max CAD (Ivoclar), and Neodent and Titaniumfix components.
At Smile, cases come in as intraoral scans, in STL or your scanner’s format, or as impressions. We check every case when it arrives and on eight points before it ships, and when something is missing we contact you before we build. Each service shows its turnaround in business days as you build the order in the dentist portal, whose screens are in Portuguese. After that, the case shows its current stage and when it got there, with messages and files on the case itself.
In São Paulo, our own courier delivers to your practice. We already work with dentists outside Brazil; files, components, shipping and turnaround are arranged case by case. Ask how adjustments and remakes work before your first case, on WhatsApp at +55 11 91977-8694. The path from sign-up to delivery is in Your first case.
Related services
Open a portal accountFrequently asked questions
How long is a dental lab warranty?
There's no standard warranty period: each lab sets its own policy on adjustments, remakes and fractures, and on how long it applies. What counts is what you agree on before the first case, so ask what the policy covers, for how long, and who pays when a restoration fits the model but not the mouth.
Who pays when a restoration fits the model but not the mouth?
It depends on each lab's policy, and it's where dentists and labs tend to disagree: dentists expect the lab to remake it at its own cost, and labs point to the scan or the impression. Agree on the rule before the first case. A record of what was sent and what was checked helps show where the problem started.
Should the first case be a simple one?
Yes. A first case you know well, such as a single implant crown, shows whether the turnaround came before you submitted, whether the lab asked about what was missing and whether the restoration matched the prescription. The full-arch case can come later, once communication has been tested.
Sources
- Law No. 6,710 of November 5, 1979, on the dental technician profession (in Portuguese) · Presidency of the Republic of Brazil
- Decree No. 87,689 of October 11, 1982, regulating Law No. 6,710 (in Portuguese) · Presidency of the Republic of Brazil
- Certified Dental Laboratory (CDL) · National Board for Certification in Dental Laboratory Technology
- Why Dentists Switch Laboratories · LMT, with Dental Economics (2019)
- A study to assess communication hindrances by the means of work authorization for fixed dental prosthesis — a survey · Journal of Indian Prosthodontic Society (2020)
- Who Pays for Dental Lab Remakes? · Dentaltown (2025)
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