TECHNICIANS INSIGHT
5 THINGS
I CANNOT WORK WITHOUT! By Chelsea Morley I Co-owner TetraCAM Milling Services Co-owner GHOST Dental
D
entistry is always changing. Big deal, no secret there right? Yes, we are all aware that the digital era has become a part of pretty much every aspect of our everyday roles as Dental Technicians. What’s your point? I can hear you think… I’m just explaining in advance why my ‘5 things I cannot work without’ article is probably a little bit different from the ones of my predecessors’ list. As the owner of a fully digital milling centre dedicated to serving dental technicians, there’s no Lecron in sight.
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Here we go…
SOFTWARE
No surprise there then. Software is without a doubt the most used utensils in my kit as a digital Dental Technician. Personally, 3shape is my tool of choice. This is possibly because I was first trained using it, but after a few years’ experience with the alternatives namely ExoCAD, Dental Wings and InLab from Sirona, I always find myself returning to 3shape. My number one contact for support in this area has always been Alex
Mensikov, he’s a legend. After the design stage, nesting STL files into the material blanks is next. The software used on our milling machines is Millbox from Sum3D. The easy navigation of both these software systems makes them my personal favourites and our working life much easier.
DIGITAL FILING SYSTEM
Milling centres receive a mammoth amount of STL files each month! An organised filing system is vital for us. We don’t use any fancy software to do this, just the good old file button on Windows 11 is used to create a system. It’s cheap and cheerful… but it works. We organise by the client laboratory name, the date the orders were sent, then material choice. All our STLs are coded to protect the patient confidentiality and are disposed of safely. The filing system makes the files accessible to us almost instantly in the case of a query, repeat orders and for invoicing purposes.
www.dentaltechnician.org.uk 06/07/2022 20:36
