About Dental Laboratory Outsourcing

Dental Laboratory Outsourcing

An Elite-Level Dental Lab in South Korea

Why Dental Laboratory Outsourcing?

Here are reasons to consider Dental Laboratory Outsourcing

There are many reasons why a lab should consider outsourcing. Regardless of your reasons, finding a good outsourcing partner is the most critical. If your lab reputation is what it aims for, that’s us. Here are some of the reasons.

Some think South Korean labor is cheap, comparing us to Vietnam, Indonesia, The Philippines, or China. Far from it! In fact, it’s one of the highest labor costs in the world for college graduates.

There is cheap manual labor in South Korea. For example, those companies or manufacturers employing workers from China, Thailand, The Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. However, dental labs are strictly forbidden by law from employing unlicensed technicians. Therefore, cheap labor markets in South Korea do not apply dental laboratory outsourcing.

Why is our Dental Laboratory Outsourcing any different?

Only original genuine parts.
We don’t cut corners to save time or costs.
With us, there are no hidden costs.
All our technicians received a college degree in dental technology.
The South Korean government licenses all our technicians to practice in a dental laboratory.
Fast turnaround time from your digitally scanned files. It’s not a problem if you don’t have a digital scanner. We welcome PVS impressions.
We are available to support your staff or if you need to discuss this with our technicians.
Anything else you need to give you peace of mind? Please tell us what you need.

Why not connect to us and see what you have been missing all these times? See why our clients come to us as a last resort for outsourcing to other labs.

A Bachelor’s Degree and a Licensed Dental Technician (LDT)

Again, all our dental technicians and ceramists possess a college degree in dental technology. In addition, we receive professional training in our respective fields, such as implants.

University Bachelor 4-Year Curriculum for Dental Technology in South Korea

There are similarities in efforts between licensed dental technicians (LDT) and registered nurses (RN).

We both graduated from a 4-year college and must pass the board exams.
Again, it’s not a junior college, technical school, or vocational school but a four-year college degree. If you are not licensed, you cannot work in the dental lab, and it violates the law. Only a licensed technician must perform all dental lab tasks, including CAD-CAM.

During the four years in college, we learn a similar curriculum to a pre-dentistry program.

Therefore, we can communicate at some levels as dentists regarding basic dental languages and terminologies. As a result, our technicians at dental lab outsourcing are academically intelligent and educated, have excellent hand-eye coordination and hand craftsmanship, and are energetic.

World Standards and Registrations of Dental Laboratory Outsourcing

If your country requires any registration or license, we can accommodate them. Again, we comply with U.S. FDA requirements and standards. Also, we meet all the requirements of the South Korean government. Not many countries in the world do that. For instance, not many countries have a government that inspects dental laboratories. As such, our laboratory is regularly inspected in Korea to meet dental health standards and regulations. In other words, we meet the strictest requirements for dental laboratories.

To A-Class Dentists Around The World

Are you New to Dental Laboratory Outsourcing?

We extend our welcome to all dentists, regardless of their prior experience with international laboratories. Also, we recognize that this will be a fresh experience for you, and we are committed to guiding you through the process, which is different from what you’ve encountered with previous suppliers. We believe this new approach will bring positive results and streamline our collaboration. In fact, cultures, styles, expectations, and business norms exhibit significant variation across different countries, reflecting the distinct societal values and practices inherent in each context.

Everyone is Welcome!

Please note that we welcome and evaluate all inquiries. However, we carefully select our clients due to high inquiries from dentists outsourcing to China or other low-labor countries. They are accustomed to low-cost crowns and bridges, which do not align with our business. Therefore, to save time and effort for everyone, it is essential for our future clients and partners to align with our business and products.

Thus, our clients come to us for aesthetics, clinical functionality, consistency, and the highest level of quality.

Let’s Conduct a Pilot Study

We kindly request your flexibility as we collaborate through our dental laboratory outsourcing, starting with approximately 10 trial cases. After this initial phase, we are confident that our partnership will establish a smoother workflow for the long term. Subsequently, you will find that the quality and consistency of our services will be indistinguishable, if not better, from local labs with the added advantage of unmatched consistency.

Working with any dental laboratory outsourcing is a new experience for every dental practice and clinic. Everyone offers their unique approach, and business norms are widely different. Once we learn the difference and establish each other’s expectations, we promise we will have an amazing experience providing your patients and clinics with much-needed and deserved crowns, bridges, and removables.

Please don’t settle for less.

If you are a fully digital dental clinic, it is even easier to outsource for the best experience and results for your highly demanding patients. Sending digital cases to us is easier than arranging a pick-up from your local dental laboratories, be it in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, or any other country.

Concern or worry about language barriers? In this artificial intelligence (AI) era, you communicate with us in your native language, and we communicate in your language as well. So, in German, French, Castellano, Español, Italian, Portuguese, or Arabic, you will not have issues in your business communication. It will continue to improve every day as AI technology advances.

Our Fees and Turnaround Time

Labor costs in South Korea are among the highest globally. Therefore, if you are coming from a country with lower labor costs, please understand that our pricing will differ significantly.

However, the gaps in our quality and consistency will be significantly improved. Therefore, if you are expecting savings, please look elsewhere, as we are overwhelmed with inquiries from those looking to reduce dental laboratory outsourcing fees.

Additionally, we do not rush your valuable and priceless implant or cosmetic cases. For most restorations, we require 2 weeks, while implants, cosmetics, and removables typically take 3 weeks.

High-Volume Dental Office Pays No Shipping

Additionally, we boast over 20 years of experience working with dentists and clinics around the world. Our well-established logistics system allows us to collaborate with the best international couriers tailored to your specific country. Moreover, we cover all shipping and customs duties for high-volume dental clinics globally.

We Collaborate with Full-Time Dentists!

Therefore, if you need world-class dental lab services, you’ve come to the right place. We offer a range of services, including telescopic crowns, full cast partials, implant-supported restorations, porcelain veneers, crowns and bridges, and surgical guides. However, please note that we prefer to work with full-time clients. If you’re looking to send just one or two rare cases, we are unable to accommodate those requests. Thus, we kindly ask that you send us crowns and bridges for trial cases rather than complex cases.

Business Model of Dental Laboratory Outsourcing

Therefore, our international operations, including business and logistics, will be managed by our U.S. division. In most cases, the origin country for shipments will be the United States. By partnering with a global delivery service, we can ensure that your valuable case arrives safe and sound. Additionally, shipping to European countries is more logistically convenient from the U.S. However, the origin will be Seoul for shipments to New Zealand, Australia, Qatar, UEA, and other Arabic countries.

Additionally, please verify if your country is served by UPS (United Parcel Service), FedEx, or DHL. If these services are not available, we will have to use regular postal mail, which does not guarantee timely arrival and may result in lost packages or issues with customs. We do not have a customs representative or broker to assist with these matters.

To A-Class Dental Laboratory Owners and Managers

Reasons to Consider Dental Laboratory Outsourcing

I am the owner of a dental laboratory. Why should I consider outsourcing to another lab?

Lack of Technicians

Every dental lab owner’s challenge is searching for an acceptable technician. Until CAD-CAM popularized the industry, everything we did was handmade. At the same time, training or “passing on” your skills to someone is not a good idea. They can always end up at your competitor’s lab if they do not start their own lab to compete with you, a classic mistake in the dental lab industry. Therefore, reserving or holding off the final touch of the training step is common. After all, they will always be “looking” for a better opportunity.

Lack of Training Program

For instance, in the United States, new hires’ training consists mainly of on-the-job training or learning over the shoulder. Depending on who they are learning from, it varies widely. Mostly, they don’t study using textbooks, and there is no standard to comply, formal classroom training, or bachelor’s degree. Therefore, style, contouring, technique, anatomy, and bite are inconsistent or even inaccurate. The technicians didn’t have the opportunity to learn properly. Actually, the U.S. has a dental certification process, but it is not required. It may be possible that there is one certified technician in the lab, but non-certified technicians could do most of the work. Also, a basic understanding of functional and clinical aspects is lacking. It is not so in South Korea and our dental laboratory is outsourcing.

Digital Capability & Affordability

Back in the old days, when starting a dental lab, the capital expenditure was around $20K. Today, CAD-CAM alone costs around $200,000 and may or may not include 3D printing capability. Another issue: you are not familiar with how it works since you have never used it before, not to mention computer skills. As a result, you can hire a “computer guy” who has no clue what the margin looks like. Further, it doesn’t help the cost related to maintaining the overpriced equipment.

Moreover, you need to consider the software licenses to accept certain 3D intraoral scan files, such as iTero, Trios, or CEREC. Also, most of us are too old for this “stuff” and don’t want to mess with it. As a result, the only viable option seems to be selling and retiring.

Selling Your Lab Option

Why consider selling your hard-earned business at an underprice? I have been there, and it’s not worth it. Most buyers will not appreciate the value of your hard-built business or pay the right price. Suppose you have a buyer for good pricing; after you pay multiple taxes, where does it leave you? Also, with outsourcing, you have an opportunity to pass along your business to your family members, even if they don’t have the training or experience in the dental laboratory. For that, they will need minimal training and a basic understanding of the dental lab business. Again, with dental laboratory outsourcing, you have the flexibility to do anything you want.

Selling my lab 15 years ago was a mistake.

I sold my first lab 15 years ago, and I regret it to this day. At that time, the annual revenue was around $1.5M, but I could not find a buyer willing to pay more than $650,000. After tax, it was only four months’ worth. I am sure you can sell it better, but not to significantly satisfy your retirement life. Please don’t make the same mistake. If I had this opportunity of dental lab outsourcing, I would have never sold it. Consequently, after learning the hard way, I have decided to open a lab in Seoul.

Why did I sell it?

In fact, 20 years ago, outsourcing to more budget-friendly, cheaper labor in third-world countries was popular. In fact, everyone seems to be doing it. It was unbelievably so cheap that I could not compete with them. Instead, I decided to sell it and do something else. To me, it seems like a mistake in outsourcing at that time. However, time has passed, and it is far more globalized. It only takes a couple of days to ship anywhere around the world, or sometimes it is faster than shipping domestically. After a few times, you will see how easy and practical shipping is for us. Our clients send to us using FedEx, UPS, DHL, or other global shipping companies.

Retiring or Dental Laboratory Outsourcing?

Retiring without any income or a minimum income is no fun! Not to mention what you plan to do with your time without much funding. Traveling, health insurance, dining, and spoiling your grandchildren need money. It’s not feasible when you retire unless you are one of the few fortunate dental lab owners who saved a fortune! But, not many small to medium-sized dental lab owners have had the luxury of saving. In fact, we are and have always been hard-working, tax-paying business owners.

Semi-Retirement & Quality Life

Also, what will you do with all your time when you retire? Having your own business, at least you will have something to do for the rest of your life. Going to work and having your own place or a “cave” is a blessing! Therefore, dental lab outsourcing gives you more quality time with your family. Let’s do the hard work while you spend more quality time with your grandchildren and family. It allows you to semi-retire and travel to places you never had time for. Also, you can still work remotely while traveling or spend a few weeks in France, Switzerland, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, or Spain. How about taking your family to Prague or visiting beautiful places like Plitvice Lakes National Park? You are free to do the rest of your life while we work for you.

Not many business owners will have such luxury as you do! Thus, with dental laboratory outsourcing, you can live the quality of life you have ever dreamed of.

Can’t find a good enough lab tech?

The primary reason why most small dental lab owners consider selling is that they can no longer continue to work. Or you don’t have the energy, skill, funds, or experience to keep up with ever-evolving technology. Eventually, you will lose your clients to your competitors.

You don’t have to worry about that anymore. We can hire as many technicians as you need, and they are at your disposal. Again, our technicians are educated, experienced, talented, and skilled, and are at the prime age of hard work and ambition. At dental laboratory outsourcing, we have the capability to handle most technologies. Also, we continue to upgrade and update dental technologies.

For example,

Accept most 3D digital files from most intraoral scanners.
In-house print 3D models from digital files.
Scan, design, and submit digitally to Atlantis or ZimVie for Encode Healing Abutments.
In-house milling for most customized abutments – titanium, titanium gold anodized, zirconia, or hybrid titanium-zirconia abutments.
The latest CAD-CAM systems and technologies, and much more.

The reputation of Offshore Dental Laboratory Outsourcing

The image of offshore dental lab outsourcing is never popular. Yet, it’s inevitable, and many are doing it, albeit discreetly. However, they mostly do it for cheaper labor reasons. Not to us! You seldom find a product printed “made in Korea” unless it’s high-end electronics, AI, drones, semiconductors, and other high-technology products.

You get what you pay for

Seoul is one of the most expensive places to live and work. At the same time, it’s home to thousands of the best dental technicians in the world. As such, our quality and detailed anatomy are textbook or magazine models. Therefore, our clients come to us when they need the highest quality work. We guarantee your money will be worth every penny!

What can you outsource?

Our technicians have the training and experience to fabricate from crowns & bridges to complete dentures & partials. For example:

CAD-CAM monolithic zirconia crowns and bridges
Zirconia layered/stacked crowns and bridges
IPS e.max pressable, ZirCAD, and layered crowns, bridges, and veneers
Full-mouth rehabilitation
Cosmetic porcelain veneers & diagnostic wax-ups
Valplast & cast partials & dentures
Customized implant abutments and attachments
Porcelain fused to metal and full gold crowns

If you need anything else? Contact us, and we may be able to accommodate them as long as they are approved or cleared to use in the dental industry by the United States Food and Drug Administration or your country.

What if I am not digital?

Suppose your client purchased a digital scanner, but you are not set up for digital. Fortunately, one of our clients agreed to use their accounts. Therefore, you don’t need to invest in digital technology.

Our digital partner is set up to accept most digital brands as they are:

Partner in Align Technology iTero Scanner
Certified 3Shape Trios Ready
3M or Midmark True Definition Margin Marking
CEREC DS Core inLab Connect
Medit Link
Straumann Cares
Carestream and other STL-formatted 3D digital scanners

Our Ideal Partners

The foremost importance of our partnership is a lab servicing high-end dental clinics. For instance, a dentist who appreciates the good quality of work and, more importantly, is patient-minded. In fact, when your clients want to give the best restoration for their patients, you are the ideal partner we would like to work with.

Please consider the following points if you are a candidate for the partnership:

As mentioned above, your clients are patient-minded
You have around two weeks
Can ship about ten or more cases per shipment
Your payment history is outstanding
Ability to custom shade match
Ability to provide overnight or the same services, such as adding contacts or shade adjustment.

As dental laboratory outsourcing, we want detailed instructions from your clients so that we can do our first the first time. For example, minimizing remakes or adjustments as much as possible.

Certainly, if you have no experience with outsourcing, we will train you. We have experience in most issues related to dental lab outsourcing. Therefore, we can help you to get started. However, a few times, it will be a learning curve for you and may require some patience. As such, we will not promise everything will be smooth. Like any other business, the first time is always a learning process.

Shipping Costs

International next-day shipping is something you must consider before starting dental lab outsourcing. Unless you have significant discounts from a shipping carrier, shipping internationally is not practical. However, we have a solution for that as well. Every major shipping company offered us a discount. Therefore, you can utilize our shipper’s number. Afterward, we will add it to your account. It’s simple! You are responsible for the shipping to us, and we pay for shipping to you if you meet the minimum requirement.

Custom Shade Match

With today’s high technology, shade matching has never been easier. Of course, matching anterior centrals still poses challenges. I am sure it has always been challenging, even with you being next to the dental clinics. However, the latest material, zirconia’s opacity characteristic, made it even harder. However, we will walk you through the process of custom shading.

Remake and Adjustment

At our dental laboratory outsourcing, we follow the industry standard and policy for remakes and adjustments. For example, if a crown doesn’t fit the master die model, it’s free of charge. Also, since our business is all custom-made, there is no refund unless unused parts are refundable.

If there are any more concerns or have other questions, please get in touch with us. Simply fill out the contact form.

As a result of Dental Laboratory Outsourcing

Contact us if you are a dental lab owner who provides crowns and bridges to dentistry. Again, with decades of experience, we can deliver top-notch dental and dental prosthetics crafted properly by our detail-oriented and well-trained technicians.

Our benefits include the following:

Only three days in the lab for most single-unit full-contoured zirconia
Free shipping to high-volume dental laboratories
Unmatched high-quality restoration products
One-stop for all restoration needs
Knowledgeable technical and clinical support
Economic in-house printing of 3D models

Moreover, our goal is to provide clients with quality dental products constructed using modern and advanced dental technology. For instance, you can outsource dental laboratory for the following restorations:

Cosmetic porcelain veneers
Custom zirconia and titanium implant restorations
Full mouth reconstruction and smile makeovers
Full contoured zirconia or stacked porcelain zirconia crowns
Emax crowns and veneers
Digital porcelain fused to gold or FGC
Digitally milled dentures and partials
Telescopic crowns, friction pins, and attachments
Implant bars

Digital Support Lab

Dental Laboratory Outsourcing is a world-class digital lab for all your high-quality custom dental crown needs. In fact, our state-of-the-art digital facility has the most up-to-date technology to support most intraoral digital scanners.

Extensive Line of Services

Given our clinically proven practice, we restore an extensive line of restorative dental implants and cosmetic products. In fact, we have exceptional construction capability and a highly trained and skilled team of dental technicians. All our implant and cosmetic veneers are explicitly custom-designed for each patient with the utmost precision and accuracy by experienced dental technicians.