What to include on a dental lab prescription, with a free checklist

A dental lab prescription has to tell the lab six things. Who the patient is, which teeth, what to make, what to make it from, what it should look like, and when it is needed.

The files the lab works from travel with it. Leave one item out, and the lab has to stop and ask.

The checklist below covers each case type, with tooth numbers in FDI notation. Print it, or hand it to the practices you work with.

The six things a lab prescription has to say

A checklist of the six things a dental lab prescription has to tell the lab: who the patient is, which teeth, what to make, what to make it from, what it should look like and when it is needed.

• Who the patient isThe name as it appears in your chart
• Which teethIn FDI notation, written “tooth 11”
• What to makeCrown, bridge, veneer, inlay, denture or appliance
• What to make it fromThe material, named with the restoration
• What it should look likeThe shade, the shade guide and photos
• When it is neededThe date back, and the seat appointment

The checklist

Every case

• Patient name, and the chart number if you use one
• The dentist’s name, the practice and a number to reach you
• The date sent, and the date the case is needed back
• The seat appointment, if it is already booked
• The teeth involved, in FDI notation, such as tooth 11
• What to make: crown, bridge, veneer, inlay, denture or appliance
• The material
• The shade, and the shade guide it was taken with
• Every file or impression sent, listed one by one
• The dentist’s signature or sign-off

Crowns, bridges and veneers

• The stump shade, for a translucent ceramic
• Shade photos, with the tab in the frame
• A note on any margin that is hard to read on the scan
• Occlusal contact: light, in contact or out of occlusion
• Contact tightness, if you have a preference
• The pontic design, for a bridge

Implant cases

• The implant system, and the platform or connection size
• Screw-retained or cement-retained
• The abutment: stock, custom or a titanium base
• The scan body or impression coping used
• Soft tissue notes, or the emergence profile you want

Removable work and appliances

• The type of appliance, and which arch
• Tooth shade and mould, and the base shade, for a denture
• Design notes: clasps, rests and relief areas
• The stage you want back: try-in or finish
• The bite registration

How to use it

At many practices the Rx is the work of two people. The assistant knows what was scanned, and the dentist knows what they want made.

Fill it in before the patient leaves the chair. The shade, the photos and the bite are all still in the room.

Keep the list where the Rx is written, beside the scanner or at the front desk. Use the first block for every case, and one other block for the case type.

A lab can use the same list at intake. Check each new case against it the day it arrives, and send it to any practice whose cases keep coming up short.

What every Rx has to say

These are the six things from the top of this guide, in the order a lab reads them.

Who the patient is, and how to reach you

Start with the patient’s name as it appears in your chart. The lab uses it to match the Rx to the scans and to every later question.

Add the dentist who prescribed the case and a direct way to reach them. A front desk number alone adds a step to every question.

Which teeth

Write tooth numbers in FDI notation. The first digit is the quadrant and the second is the tooth, counted from the midline.

Tooth 11 is the upper right central incisor, and tooth 46 is the lower right first molar. Write “tooth 11”, never a bare number.

A bare number can be read in another system. FDI tooth numbering on lab prescriptions explains the differences.

What to make, and from what

Name the restoration and the material together. “Crown” leaves the lab to choose, and “monolithic zirconia crown” does not.

If you want the lab’s advice on the material, say that. An open question is fine, as long as it is asked on purpose.

For a bridge, give the abutment teeth and the pontic design. For an implant, the system and connection decide which parts the lab can use.

What it should look like

Shade is where a short Rx costs the most. One shade tab number describes one part of a tooth.

Dr. Joel Gaudet, the dentist who founded Tusko, still sends his front teeth to a lab for this reason:

“For any front tooth I still want a lab doing custom shading, because a tooth isn’t one colour. It’s a bunch of different shades and hues.”

Dr. Joel Gaudet, Wave Dentistry

Give the lab what it needs to see those shades. Send photos with the tab beside the tooth, and name the shade guide.

For a translucent ceramic, add the stump shade. The colour of the prepared tooth shows through the final crown.

Shade communication with your dental lab covers photos and lighting in detail.

When it is needed

Every case has two dates. The lab needs the day the case must be back, and it helps to know the seat appointment too.

The gap between them is your margin for a courier delay or a question. A lab that knows both dates can tell you early if the plan is tight.

Dental lab turnaround times covers how to plan those dates.

What is attached

List what you sent, item by item: upper scan, lower scan, bite scan, photos. The lab can then see at once if a file did not arrive.

A missing file looks the same as a file that was never taken. Only the list tells the lab which one it is.

How to send intraoral scans to a dental lab without losing files covers the transfer itself, and STL vs PLY files covers formats.

What the regulation says in British Columbia

In British Columbia, a dental technician works from a prescription. The rule is in the Oral Health Professionals Regulation, in force since 1 April 2026.

Section 27 says a technician may “make or alter a dental appliance” on receiving a prescription for it.

The finished work goes back “to the person who issued the prescription”.

Other provinces set their own rules, so check with your regulator. This guide covers what makes an Rx workable at the bench, and it is no substitute for legal advice.

Where a prescription goes wrong

A prescription fails in a few predictable ways, and none of them is carelessness.

• A vague word. “Match the adjacent tooth” needs a photo to mean anything.
• A number with no system. A bare 8 could be a tooth in two different places.
• One date instead of two. The lab plans to a date the practice never meant.
• Files sent on their own. The scan arrives from the scanner and the Rx arrives by email, and nobody joins them.

Labs see the result at intake. Incomplete prescriptions covers how a lab can catch these on day one.

Writing a crown Rx is its own skill. How to write a crown Rx your lab never has to call about goes field by field.

Paper, PDF or digital

The fields are the same on a paper lab slip, a PDF or a digital Rx. What changes is how easy it is to leave one blank.

A paper slip accepts anything. A digital Rx can refuse to send without a date, and it keeps the files attached to the form.

Digital vs paper lab slips compares the two in detail.

More on working with your lab

A complete Rx is the first step. These guides cover what happens to the case after it leaves.

• Why dental lab cases go missing, and how to stop it
• The real cost of phone tag between dental practices and labs
• How to give your dental lab feedback that improves the next case

One Rx that both sides can see

A checklist works when somebody remembers to use it. A form that asks for each field works every time.

Tusko sends the Rx, the scans and the date as one case that the practice and the lab both open. Questions stay on that case.

See how it looks for practices and for labs.