Frequently Asked Questions

Request a starter kit on the Getting Started page. It ships with case boxes, lab slips, prepaid return shipping labels for offices outside our courier area, and our full fee schedule. Or call (626) 333-3531 and we’ll set up your account over the phone.

Our own courier routes cover the San Gabriel Valley and greater Los Angeles, with no shipping days added and no charge for pickup and delivery. Outside those routes we work with practices across California and neighboring states by shipping: the starter kit includes prepaid return labels, ready to use with nothing to pay at the counter, and shipping is billed with the case on the invoice.

Connect your scanner to the lab. The Send a Scan page has step-by-step instructions for iTero, 3Shape TRIOS, Medit, Dentsply Sirona, Dexis/Carestream, and Runyes. Include a prescription with every case; the Digital Lab Slip works for any case, digital or physical.

It ships in the starter kit (see Getting Started), or call (626) 333-3531 and we’ll get it to your office. We don’t publish pricing on the website.

Yes, rush service is available on most work for an additional fee. Call (626) 333-3531 to schedule a rush case before sending it.

Please don’t. Email and website forms are not secure channels for protected health information. Send cases through your scanner’s portal (see Send a Scan) or call the lab and we’ll set up the right channel for your office.

Two years on Crown & Bridge, six months on removable prosthetics and on Ortho & Appliances, and 90 days on repairs and relines, against defects in materials and workmanship, from the delivery date, with repair or replacement at our discretion. Each product page publishes the terms alongside its turnaround table.

• Cast metal (chrome-cobalt or Vitallium): when you need rests, rigidity, and long-term stability.
• Flexible (TCS Unbreakable, iFlex): when esthetics lead, clasps would show, or the patient refuses metal.
• Combination framework: when you want both: cast-framework support and durability, with tissue-shade flexible clasps where they would show.

Teeth, acrylic, and reinforcement, on any removable. Economy tooth sets are included with every case; premium tooth lines (VITA, Kulzer, Portrait IPN) are available as an upgrade. Bases run Diamond D high-impact acrylic as standard, and acrylic bases can be reinforced with a prefabricated wire or mesh, or a custom cast chrome-cobalt mesh. Note the upgrade on the slip, or call (626) 333-3531 and we’ll walk you through the tiers.

As little as one business day. Simple acrylic repairs run 1 business day, a reline-plus-repair combination runs 2, and cleaning and polish runs 1. On duplicate and jump cases the existing denture stays at the lab as little as 1 business day.

Yes, on acrylic partials, stayplates, cast-metal partials, and flexible partials alike; adding a clasp works the same way. Send the partial with a current impression or model of the arch (a pick-up impression with the partial seated is best) and note the shade. Additions to acrylic run 1 business day and TCS flexible materials (Unbreakable, iFlex) run 4; if the addition has to be cast and soldered to a metal framework, allow up to 6 business days depending on complexity.

Not in the traditional sense: new material won’t bond to a nylon base predictably, which is also why we build flexible partials on healed ridges. What we can do is a rebase: the teeth and the design stay, and the flexible base is replaced entirely from your new impression, on the rebase timeline published on the removables page. Call with the case and we’ll confirm which is right.

Often, yes. Send the partial with a new impression or model and we’ll assess it: minor drift can usually be handled by adjusting the clasps and re-adapting the saddles against the new model. If the teeth have moved beyond what an adjustment can absorb, a technician calls before any work starts to recommend a rebase or a replacement instead.

When the case may need a spare, a replacement, or a re-do. The design stays on file, so another denture or try-in can be produced from the stored design without new impressions. Call with the case and we’ll confirm the file is available. Beyond that: fit is repeatable from the file, milled teeth wear better than standard acrylic teeth, and the milled base is denser with less residual monomer than a processed base. If the patient has an existing denture, we can often scan or reline our way in without starting over.

Every conventional removable case includes one try-in and one re-try-in; immediate dentures run straight to finish by default, though you can request a wax bite or try-in on the slip. Additional re-tries and shade changes after approval carry a small fee, listed on the fee schedule.

Prescribe by span and by how hard the patient loads:

• 3Y (1200 MPa): single crowns anywhere in the arch, bridges of 4+ units, and heavy bruxers. Strongest, least translucent.
• 4Y (900 MPa): the everyday posterior single crown, and 3-unit bridges anywhere in the arch.
• 5Y (650 MPa) or e.max: the esthetic zone: anterior single crowns and veneers. 5Y also covers 3-unit anterior bridges through the premolar; e.max stays single-unit.

Not sure? Note the tooth number and opposing dentition on the slip and a technician will recommend a material before we start the case.

Both. We take scans from the major intraoral systems (see the Send a Scan page) and physical impressions, with courier pickup across the San Gabriel Valley and greater Los Angeles and shipping from everywhere else. Impressions enter the same design workflow as digital cases.

Yes, a scan is all we need to start, and we print a model when the case calls for one. On request we also run a model-free workflow: the restoration is designed and finished without a printed model, at a discount. Model-free is available for single-unit crowns, small-span bridges, and single-unit implant crowns; we don’t recommend it for other case types, and a model-free crown may still need minor chairside adjustment at delivery.

Zirconia needs the least; PFM the most:

• Zirconia: 0.6–0.8 mm minimum for 3Y; 1.0–1.5 mm ideal where space allows.
• e.max crowns: 1.5 mm incisal/occlusal and 1.2–1.5 mm axial. A minimally invasive e.max crown can go to 1.0 mm circumferential when it is adhesively bonded.
• e.max veneers: 0.6 mm facial, or 0.3 mm for pressed thin veneers.
• PFM: 1.5–2.0 mm on functional cusps wherever porcelain covers the occlusal.
• Full-cast & full gold: 1.5 mm on functional cusps and 1.0 mm on nonfunctional, with a 0.5 mm chamfer: the most conservative full-coverage preparation.

The Selection Guide on the Crown & Bridge page lists every material side by side; some clinical situations call for more.

VITA Classical and VITA 3D-Master are our working systems, and either is preferred. Any other shade guide works too: name the guide on the slip and we convert it. For e.max and 5Y zirconia, include the stump shade as well; both materials are translucent enough that the underlying preparation shows through and changes how we build the shade.

A shade photo helps on any esthetic case. What makes one useful:

• Two or three shade tabs in frame: the closest match plus a neighbor on either side, held edge-to-edge in the same plane as the tooth with the labels readable. Bracketing tells the ceramist far more than a single tab.
• Taken before dehydration: shoot at the start of the appointment; isolated teeth dry out within minutes and photograph whiter than they are.
• Phone camera: flash off, no zoom, no filters or beauty mode. Tap the tooth to focus, then drag the exposure slider down slightly so the enamel isn’t blown out. Daylight or a neutral (about 5500 K) light source beats the overhead operatory light.
• Dedicated camera: ISO 100–200, white balance 5500 K (the flash preset), shutter 1/125–1/200 with flash, and f/16–f/22 for depth of field.
• Cross-polarization (optional): a polarizing filter removes surface glare and reveals the underlying shade and characterization; a nice upgrade, but not required. Plain, slightly underexposed photos work.

Send photos with the case through your scanner portal, or call the lab and we’ll set up the right channel.

These are general guidelines. We recommend checking your cement manufacturer’s instructions, and following them wherever they differ.

Zirconia (3Y, 4Y, 5Y): two valid paths, chosen by the prep.

• Retentive prep: conventional cementation with resin-modified glass ionomer (RMGI). No etching, priming, or bonding steps.
• Short or over-tapered prep: bond it. Clean the intaglio after try-in (Ivoclean or 5% NaOCl, not phosphoric acid), air-abrade with 30–50 µm alumina, apply an MDP-containing primer, and seat with a dual-cure resin cement; the crown blocks the curing light, so the cement must also cure chemically.
• Never HF-etch zirconia: it has no glass phase to etch.

e.max (lithium disilicate): adhesive bonding is the default.

• Veneers & minimally invasive crowns: must be bonded. Etch with 5% HF for 20 seconds, apply silane (or a one-bottle etch-and-prime), and seat veneers with a light-cure resin cement, the most color-stable under thin ceramic.
• Full-coverage crowns: same etch-and-silane protocol with a dual-cure resin cement; a retentive prep can instead take a self-adhesive dual-cure resin cement with no separate etch step.

PFM, full-cast & full gold: conventional cementation with RMGI or conventional glass ionomer. No bonding protocol needed.

Yes. Use a fine-grit diamond with water spray and light pressure, then repolish with a zirconia polishing kit; a well-polished surface is what keeps zirconia kind to the opposing dentition, and the literature finds polished zirconia less abrasive than glazed. If an adjustment is larger than a polish can recover, send the restoration back and we re-glaze it on request.

• Prep and opposing: a scan or impression of the prepared arch, plus the opposing arch.
• Bite registration: covering at least the prepared quadrant, in occlusion.
• Tooth number, material, and shade: on the slip, with the opposing dentition noted; add the stump shade on e.max and 5Y cases (see “How should I communicate shade?”).
• Margins: if any part of the margin is uncertain in the scan or impression, mark it or note it on the slip.

If anything we need is missing (margin, shade, or opposing), we call the office before we start the case.

Before we start it. If the prescribed material doesn’t fit the case in front of us (a 5Y crown on a heavy bruxer, e.max where the prep can’t give it room, a span too long for the zirconia grade), a technician calls with the reason and the alternative before anything is milled or pressed. Note the opposing dentition on the slip and we’ll catch it at design.

Two years against defects in materials and workmanship, from the delivery date, when the restoration is fabricated to your specifications. The remedy is repair or replacement at our discretion. Full terms are published on the Crown & Bridge page, next to the turnaround table.

• Screw-retained: where the access hole lands in a cleansable, non-esthetic position: retrievable, and no cement to clean.
• Cement-retained: when angulation would put the access hole through the facial.
• Angulation is the only obstacle: an angled screw channel (up to about 25°) usually keeps the case screw-retained anyway; our screw-retained crowns are cemented outside the mouth and delivered assembled or as separate pieces.

Not sure which way to go? Send the scan and ask before defaulting to cement.

Most major systems available in the US, including Nobel Biocare, Straumann, Zimmer, Astra (Dentsply Sirona), BioHorizons, Hiossen, Dentis, and Dentium. High-precision, FDA-cleared compatible components are our standard. If your case needs to stay within the implant manufacturer’s guarantee terms, request original/OEM parts on the Rx and we’ll quote them (OEM pricing applies). Send the implant brand, platform, and diameter with the case and we’ll confirm the connection before we start.

• Implant details: brand, platform, and diameter for every site; we confirm the connection before we start.
• Scan body: the brand and size used at each site, noted in the case. On analog cases, send the impression coping or your own components.
• Opposing and bite: the opposing arch and a bite registration.
• Shade: on the slip; a shade photo helps on anterior cases.

Unconfirmed connections and unidentified scan bodies are the top reasons implant cases stall. If anything is unclear from what arrives, we call the office before we start.

It comes down to passive fit. On multi-implant restorations, even small impression distortions stack up across the arch, and a verification jig catches that before we mill a bar or an arch. Finding a distortion at the jig stage costs one appointment; finding it at try-in, after a bar or arch is milled, costs considerably more.

We fabricate acrylic pilot guides (surgical stents) that translate your treatment plan to the surgical field.

Often, yes. If the denture fits well and the base has room for the housings, we process the LOCATOR housings and retention inserts into it at the lab: send the denture with an implant-level impression, or with the abutment positions picked up in a reline-style impression. If the base is thin, worn, or ill-fitting, we’ll recommend a new overdenture instead; the removables page covers base options and upgrades.

The abutment (titanium, hybrid zirconia, or your own component) plus the crown, a soft-tissue implant model with the analog included, and the final screw, billed as one package. Components are not invoiced separately after delivery. Send your own analog with the case and ask about the discount.

• Hard acrylic: for confirmed grinders and clenchers: it wears predictably and holds adjustments.
• Dual-laminate (hard outside, soft inside): when a patient won’t tolerate rigid acrylic: durable occlusal surface, comfortable fit.
• Soft: only for mild, occasional parafunction or first-time appliance wearers; soft material wears faster and isn’t recommended for confirmed clenchers or heavy bruxers.

Send the scan with a note about wear facets and we’ll recommend one.

Either works, for any appliance we make. An intraoral scan and a physical impression or model enter the same workflow: a 3D-printed night guard, for example, is designed in software to spec either way, from your scan or from a model we digitize in the lab. The one exception is banded appliances, which need fitted bands or band sizes (see the banded-appliance question).

• Upper (maxillary): the standard prescription. The broader coverage retains better, distributes occlusal load evenly, and leaves the tongue space free.
• Lower (mandibular): for patients with a strong gag reflex, a large tongue, or prominent palatal tori, and often the better-tolerated arch when the appliance is also worn during the day.

Both protect the dentition when the guard is made with even contacts and smooth excursions, so the deciding factor is which one your patient will actually wear. Note the arch on the slip.

• Impression or scan: of the working arch (see “Do you need a scan or an impression?”).
• Opposing and bite: for night guards and splints, send the opposing arch and a bite registration.
• Bands or band sizes: for banded appliances (see the banded-appliance question).
• The details: expansion or activation protocol for expanders, acrylic color for Hawleys, team colors for sports guards.

If a record we need is missing, we call the office before the case starts.

Essix wins on esthetics and cost; Hawley on longevity, adjustability, and tolerance of parafunction. For patients who grind, consider the Night Guard / Hawley Combo instead of retaining and protecting with two separate appliances.

Either way works: send fitted bands with the impression or scan, or send band sizes and we’ll fit custom bands from the model. Soldered hooks, pontics, and custom bands are all available; note them on the slip.

Often, yes, but the two appliances work differently:

• 3D-printed night guards: the design file stays on record, and a reprint on request runs at a reduced fee.
• Thermoformed retainers: these aren’t designed in software; they’re formed over a model. We can form a replacement as long as we still have the model (on digital cases, a model reprinted from the stored scan).

Replacements are recommended only when the dentition is unchanged. New crowns, extractions, or tooth movement (common when an appliance has gone unworn) alter the fit, and the appliance should be remade from a fresh scan or impression. Call with the case and we’ll confirm what’s on record.