Denture Technology As I See It Today

In general, denture technology continues to get worse year after year throughout the world. There are more people suffering with ill-fitting and unappealing dentures than ever before. Dentists don’t know what is happening in the laboratory and the denture technician does not know what is happening in the mouth. In general we now have a hit or miss proposition.

Having been in the denture business for over 40 years (10 years as a denture technician and the remaining 30 years as a denturist), I can comfortably say that dentists would prosper if they took a more hands on approach. This would facilitate a better grasp of the complete visual image of what happens from start to finish through a patient’s satisfaction.

The way I attempt to address this problem is to give dentists a basic two day hands on workshop with live demonstrations and then train their dental assistant to do 95% of the work in the dental office. The dentist does 5% of the work. The dentist would be required to do an oral exam, check the wax bite and final finish product. The dental assistant will be trained to assist the dentist in taking the impression, recording the bite and sending it off to the laboratory for a wax up. The dental assistant will assist the dentist in choosing the correct teeth size, shape and color and send it to the laboratory for wax fabrication. If the bite is off, the assistant will help take a new wax bite relationship and then send it off for another try-in. The final dentures should only be sent off if the wax bite is correct for final finish.

The value of the dental assistant is going to be invaluable to the dentist. Denture laboratory technicians will be trained to understand what his/her function will be under the rigorous training of All Denture Labs, International. They will be trained to take over from this point on to provide beautiful and functional dentures with the highest degree of accuracy.

This quality control will result in a greater degree of satisfaction to the patient with only a few post insertion adjustments. Laboratory technicians will be trained to take their time and to place each and every tooth in the most strategic position for aesthetics and for maximum efficiency in chewing. This training, in the lab, will be executed by Sundru Moodley personally.

The primary goal for training all three professionals (dentists, assistants and technicians) in the proper fit and finish of modern dentures is to achieve the best results possible - 100% accuracy with no remakes and complete control over quality throughout the entire process. This can only be accomplished through understanding, communication and teamwork - a win win situation for everyone.

An alternative method is to have a denturist come to the dental office and take the impression, choose the teeth, and perform the wax try in - all in one day (1.25 hours for the wax up). After the impression is taken, the denturist will check for the aesthetics, function and phonetics. On the second appointment, the dentures are delivered and inserted by the denturist.

The cost for a two-day hands-on clinic workshop is $1800 for dentists and $600 for dental assistants which includes eight CE credit hours. All lab work is completed at All Denture Labs, International with state of the art materials and technology. Sundru Moodley, who has made over 15,000 dentures from start to finish with over a 98% success rate will conduct the training. Interested dentists can sign up early next year. Pre-registration reservations are currently being taken at 303-778-7707.

- Sundru Moodely, MSc, LD, CDT

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