How dental labs can cut “where’s my case?” calls
Status calls pull technicians off the bench. Here is why practices phone to ask where a case is, how to count the calls, and six changes that cut them.
By the Tusko team
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A practice phones to ask where a case is because it cannot see for itself. Show it the stage and a date it can trust, and most of the reason to call is gone.
That takes six changes, and none of them needs more staff. The first three can start this week.
Why practices call
A status call is seldom idle curiosity. Someone at the practice has a patient booked and wants to know the case will be there.
Dr. Joel Gaudet, the dentist who founded Tusko, explains what is at stake on that side:
“If the patient shows up in the chair and the case hasn’t arrived, it’s a huge deal. You’re apologizing for wasting their time, and they took time off work.”
Dr. Joel Gaudet, Wave Dentistry
Seen from the front desk, a two-minute call is cheap insurance against that morning.
The calls tend to arrive at three moments, and each has its own fix.
Three moments a practice calls, and what answers each
A timeline of the three moments a practice phones about a case. Just after sending, a same-day receipt answers it. Partway through, a ship date and a visible stage answer it. The day before the seat appointment, a message when the case ships answers it.
Just after sending
A receipt the same day
The practice wants to know the case arrived, and that the Rx is complete.
Partway through
A ship date and a visible stage
It wants to know the case is on schedule for its date.
The day before the seat
A message when it ships
It wants to know the case is on its way.
None of those three questions needs a technician to answer it. Each one needs a fact the practice could have had already.
Count the calls for one week first
Before changing anything, find out which of the three moments fills your phone log.
Keep a sheet by each phone for five working days. Every status call gets one line.
- The practice that called
- The case it asked about
- Which moment it was: just sent, partway, or the day before
- Who had to stop work to find the answer
- How long the call took, including the walk to the bench
At the end of the week, total each moment. The biggest total tells you which of the changes below to make first.
Keep the sheet. In a month you will want to know if the changes worked.
What a useful status tells a practice
A status is only worth checking if it answers the question behind the call. Four things do that.
- The stage, in plain words. The practice wants to know how close the case is. The name of a bench does not tell them.
- The ship date. One date, kept current.
- Anything the case is waiting on. If it needs a shade photo or an answer, say so beside the stage.
- Who to ask. A name is quicker than a main line.
Leave out what the practice cannot use. Which technician has the case, and which furnace it is in, are for your team.
Six changes that cut status calls
1. Confirm receipt the day a case arrives
The first worry at the practice is whether the case arrived at all. A same-day receipt settles it.
Say what you received and what you still need. “Scan and Rx received, shade photo missing” saves a call in each direction.
2. Give a ship date at check-in
A practice plans its seat appointment around the day the case comes back. Tell it that day when you check the case in.
Give a date, never a range. A range leaves the front desk to guess, and a guess leads to a call.
If the date depends on something, say what. “Ships Thursday if the shade photo arrives today” tells the practice how to help.
3. Use the same stage names with every practice
Pick a short set of stages and use the same words everywhere. Received, in production, ready and out for delivery are enough.
Internal steps can stay internal. The practice needs to know how close the case is, and four stages do that.
Tell each practice what the stage names mean, so its front desk reads them the way you do.
4. Say so first when a date moves
A late case is forgivable. A late case the practice hears about from its own patient is not.
Send word the moment you know, with the new date. The practice can still move the appointment, and that keeps its chair time intact.
Keep the message plain. “The crown for tooth 36 now ships Thursday, a day later than planned” is all it needs.
5. Send one message when the case ships
The day-before call exists because nobody said the case was on its way. One line when it leaves the lab ends that call.
Include how it is travelling and when it should land.
6. Let practices look for themselves
The first five changes are messages your team sends. The sixth removes the need to send them.
If a practice can open a case and see its stage and date, it has its answer at any hour. Your phone stays quiet, and so does theirs.
This change does the most and asks the most. It needs a system both sides can open, and the status in it has to be the one your bench works from.
Set expectations before the first case
Some status calls come from practices that were never told what to expect. A one-page welcome sheet fixes that.
- Your usual turnaround for each type of work
- The cut-off time for a case to count as received that day
- Pickup and delivery days for their area
- How they will hear from you, and when
- Where to look up a case, and who to call if it is urgent
Send it when a practice starts with you, and again when anything on it changes.
A practice that knows how long a crown takes will plan around it. One that has to guess will phone.
Rush cases need a rule of their own. Agree how a practice flags one, what it costs, and how soon you will confirm you can do it.
Handle the calls that still come
Some calls will always come, and a few are useful. A practice that phones about every case is telling you something.
Answer with the stage and the date, then note why they called. If the reason repeats, ask what they are not getting from you.
Sometimes it is a past late case, and trust takes a few on-time ones to rebuild. Sometimes nobody showed them where to look.
Never make the phone harder to reach. A practice that cannot get through will think twice before it sends the next case.
Where a shared case fits
Receipts, dates and shipping notes can all be sent by hand. Doing it for every case, every day, is the hard part.
On Tusko, every practice sees where its cases are, live, on the same case your team works from. Nobody has to send the update.
The record stays there too. When a practice asks what was said about a case last month, the answer is on the case.
See how it works for labs, or put your own call volume into the lab calculator.
Status calls are one part of a wider habit. How dental labs keep practices sending cases covers the rest.
If your calls are mostly about missing details, start with incomplete prescriptions.
How many status calls is normal for a dental lab?
There is no published benchmark we would trust. Count your own for a week and divide by the cases you shipped. That ratio is the number to bring down.
Will practices really check status themselves?
They will if it is quicker than phoning and the status is always current. A status that runs a day behind sends them straight back to the phone.
Who at the lab should take status calls?
Whoever can answer without walking to the bench. If nobody can, fix that first, because every call then costs two people’s time.
Does a doctor portal solve status calls?
A portal with live status answers the question for your lab’s cases. The practice still needs a separate login for each of its other labs, and some will phone to skip it.
Related guides
Practices stay with the dental lab that is easy to work with. Here is what a dentist notices, the early signs a practice is drifting, and what to do.
A production board shows every case in a dental lab, where it is and when it is due. Here is how to run one on a whiteboard, a spreadsheet or software.
A small dental lab wins on access, memory and the cases that need attention. Here is how to choose your ground, use digital on your own terms and show it.