I had active Townie Dr. Sameer Puri come to my practice to train my staff on a new CAD/CAM software last month. Why? Because I wanted my assistants to know how to use the system just as well, if not better, than I do. I know that 90 percent of the questions asked by patients are fielded by the front desk and the assistants, not me or the other doctors. And because of this, I want all my staff to know what they’re doing!

So many doctors go to CE courses or conferences alone. They’ll do in-office training alone. They’ll never teach their staff the software or systems or procedures. This doesn’t make any sense. You don’t work alone. You don’t run your practice alone. Why would you attend a conference to learn how to better your practice and then not bring your staff along? That just doesn’t make sense.

I sat down with Sam to ask him about CAD/CAM implementation. Our office has it already, but not all offices do. I wanted to see what he had to say about the technology and how he helps doctors successfully implement the machine into their offices. Here are some of his tips:

Train Your Team

The key with any office utilizing CAD/CAM is getting your team on board. At one point, there was a lot of debate about whether the technology worked or was worth it. I think that’s over. There have been offices—single doctor, one assistant, one front desk—that have been successful and there have been multi-doctor, multi-staff offices that have integrated it efficiently.

Once you get your team trained with how to use CAD/CAM properly, the dentist really just needs to do what he or she has been doing with a lab. The dentist should numb the patient, prep the tooth and then leave. With CAD/CAM, the team can take over (depending on the laws of the state) and nearly the entire process can be done without the supervision of the dentist. The dentist can be in the other room being productive. And when the restoration is done, come back in to check the work and cement it. If the team member takes the impression, designs the restoration, mills it and either polishes or glazes it, it saves the doctor a lot of time he or she can spend in another operatory. The key is that you have to have your team trained. You have to help them learn how to utilize the machine.

Don’t Let it Be Disruptive

Introducing a new piece of equipment into the office can be huge. Change doesn’t have to be overwhelming. I hear from dentists all the time, “We’re really busy. I don’t know if we have the time for it.” Well, it’s no different whether you have a well-functioning office using CAD/CAM or if you’re sending your restorations to a lab. The doctor does not have to be heavily involved in the design of the restoration…if you train your team.

Integrating CAD/CAM doesn’t have to be disruptive. You should adapt the system to your practice, not adapt your practice to the system. No matter how big or small your practice, you have a certain flow in your office that obviously works for you. Make the machine accommodate the flow of your office. Things don’t have to change drastically.

Yes, you’ll have to learn how to take a good digital impression. But that’s easy with the current generation of CAD/CAM systems. The impression gives you a lot of feedback. You instantly know whether you have a good prep or not, whether you’ve reduced enough, whether you need to do a reduction coping or spot the opposing. You know instantly whether you’ve captured the margins and whether you’ve prepared the tooth properly.

If the team member is doing all that work for you and they say, “I can’t quite see the margins.” He or she simply calls the dentist back, the dentist makes the appropriate modifications and you proceed.

Recognize the Need for Same-day Dentistry

When it comes to implementing the technology, the biggest mistake that offices make is they forget that there is a person attached to those teeth. They’ll say, “My lab is great. My temporaries fit well. My patients don’t mind coming back for a second visit.” This is utter nonsense. I have never met a patient who would prefer to have a restoration done in two visits instead of one. It’s crazy to believe that your patients have all this free time and can come back for multiple appointments.

Discover CAD/CAM’s Potential

When CAD/CAM first entered the mainstream market, many offices bought a CAD/CAM but they didn’t know how to use it to its full potential. This was common because the learning curve was significant. Twenty years ago you had to spend time doing 50 to 100 restorations just to learn how to do a simple inlay. You had 2D software. You had to manipulate a bunch of lines on the screen and imagine that would be a restoration. Today, with proper training, a dentist can do 30 restorations his first month. The learning curve is significantly reduced. The return rate (those who buy the machine and say it doesn’t work out) has dropped exponentially too, because the machine, the software and the results are so good.

In the past, dentists were limited by the materials they could use. We only had one material: feldspathic porcelain, which is a relatively weak porcelain. We had to use that everywhere. Today, a dentist has anywhere from six to ten different types of blocks they can mill—from composite to zirconia to lithium disilicate to feldspathic porcelain. We can do inlays, onlays, implant abutments, bridges…we’re not talking about just a simple little machine anymore. We’re talking about a robust piece of equipment that can serve as a center of the practice doing many different types of restorations.

What’s your experience with CAD/CAM? Have you integrated it? Are you ready to do so? Let’s continue to talk about this massive evolution of technology at Dentaltown.com. – See more at: http://www.dentaltown.com/MessageBoard/thread.aspx?s=2&f=2680&t=233712#sthash.teltjuS7.dpuf