For dental laboratory owners and managers

LabSyncJournal

Working notes on the economics of the dental laboratory — costing, capacity, remakes, and the numbers behind them.

  • 5 Articles
  • 6 Sections
  • 22 Jul 2026 Latest
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Dental Lab Turnaround Time: Where the Days Go and How to Cut Them
Featured Production

Dental Lab Turnaround Time: Where the Days Go and How to Cut Them

Turnaround time in a dental laboratory averages 7–10 working days for a single crown, but only 2–3 days of that span is actual hands-on production. The rest is case queuing, material transit, furnace batch waits and communication lag—all compressible without sacrificing fit or aesthetics.

Super Admin 6 min read

Latest articles

A monitor showing a 3D digital dental arch mesh in a darkened lab workstation with a red tool on the desk.

Digital Workflow

Digital Impression Quality: Lab-Side STL Scan Checklist

A structured STL intake protocol verifying margin definition, interproximal contacts, antagonist capture and file integrity in 15 minutes flags unworkable scans before design starts. Labs using a formal digital impression quality checklist report remake rates dropping from 8–12% to 3–5%.

Super Admin 9 min read
A "Price Schedule" document lies on a lab counter with dental tools, models, and a caliper.

Lab Economics

Dental Lab Pricing: How to Build a Defensible Price List

A defensible dental lab price list starts with accurate cost per unit—direct materials, labor, equipment time and allocated overhead—then applies margin targets by case complexity. Most labs under-price by 15–30% because they ignore machine time, QC labor and remake reserves.

Super Admin 7 min read
A single ceramic dental crown with a small red dot rests on a grey tray next to a sealed envelope, with a blurred lab bench in the background.

Quality & Remakes

Dental Lab Remake Rate: Benchmarks, Measurement & Cost

A good dental lab remake rate sits between 2% and 4% of shipped units, measured as remakes divided by total cases delivered in a rolling 30-day window. Every percentage point above 4% costs a mid-sized lab $45,000 per year in direct labor, materials and lost throughput.

Super Admin 11 min read
Two dental crowns, one light and one yellowish, on a gray counter in a dental lab.

Materials

Monolithic Zirconia vs IPS e.max for Posterior Crowns

Monolithic zirconia delivers flexural strength above 900 MPa and suits bruxers and minimal-prep cases; IPS e.max CAD offers superior translucency and marginal accuracy below 50 µm for aesthetic premolars. Labs choose by occlusal load, prep depth and shade match requirements.

Super Admin 7 min read
Dental lab with a single tooth crown on a grey tray, next to a red folder.

Lab Economics

Full-Arch Remake Cost: What Labs Actually Lose Per Case

A full-arch remake typically costs a dental laboratory between $420 and $680 in direct expenses, depending on material choice and technician seniority. Most labs absorb this loss entirely, eroding lab profitability by 8–12% annually when remake rates exceed 3%.

Super Admin 6 min read

Behind the numbers

Every figure here is one your lab already produces.

Cost per case, remake rate, disc utilisation, unbilled work. LabSync reads them off your own production instead of your memory. We will walk you through yours.

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