High-End Implant Planning Made Easy
Inside Dental Technology delivers updates on digital workflows, materials, lab techniques, and innovation in dental technology through expert articles and videos.
December 1, 2020
Volume 11, Issue 11, December 2020
Page(s): p. 28
When dental laboratories are not involved in the implant planning process for complex full-arch cases, they often are forced to resort to guesswork-or, as Brandon Osborn and the team at NuCraft Dental Arts call it, laboratory gymnastics.
"When these cases are not carefully planned in implant planning software, the laboratory starts to need to do backflips and somersaults in order to get the cases to work for the patient," Osborn says. "That is why it is important for us to be in the conversation from the beginning: to let everyone know what is possible and what is not."
NuCraft Dental Arts, a full-service laboratory that specializes in high-end full-arch implant cases, utilizes Swissmeda implant planning software. Swissmeda provides top quality, precise fit, ease of use, and minimal costs.
"I use Swissmeda every day," Osborn says. "The first advantage is that the guide design is completely different from every other option on the market, which offers various advantages based on being able to skip over teeth, rather than needing to clasp every tooth individually. If the laboratory receives a poor impression, which unfortunately does happen sometimes, the software helps to work around it. We are not limited to constantly asking for new impressions."
Another benefit of Swissmeda is its open architecture. The software is standalone and can be downloaded by anyone.
"Every major implant company is represented within the software," Osborn says. "I have rarely come across an instance when I needed to create a custom implant to service a dentist. All of the major implants that dentists are using are in there."
Additionally, the software includes each company's individual scan flags.
"You can actually export a scan body to enable the design of some of your provisionals that way," Osborn says. "Some even have third-party scan posts in the software itself. You are not limited to just one option, which I love."
Swissmeda also is extremely easy to use, which is important for both the laboratory and the clinician.
"I have worked with multiple softwares, and many are cumbersome and even overwhelming, even for digital-savvy people," Osborn says. "Swissmeda is easy for you to learn, so when you are training new employees, they do not get lost in the details. When you are asking the clients to download the software, teaching them is easy. I can have the dentist download it, quickly train them via Zoom, and the next day, they are submitting cases and planning implants on their own."
The software also is cloud-based, meaning neither the laboratory nor the dentist needs to store large files locally.
"When you are working in a case, you upload it to a server, and from there you can go as far as deleting everything off your computer," Osborn says. "The case is in the cloud, and I can easily share it with clients who can see the exact same thing."
Swissmeda's top-notch customer support is perhaps the most important benefit.
"When I am considering a new software or product, the first thing I look at is customer support," Osborn says. "Swissmeda's customer support team, from the top down, has been the best that I could ever ask for. They are always there to answer any question we could have. Making daily work is easy when you have the support that you need."
Watch the full interview with Peter Pizzi, MDT, CDT, and Brandon Osborn at insidedentaltech.com/idt1232 .
For questions, call Brandon Osborn at 800-241-8614 or go to ucraftdental.com.
