The digital crown workflow, from scan to seat appointment
A digital crown passes through eight steps between the scan and the seat. Here is each one, who does it, and what the practice and the lab hand over.
By the Tusko team
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A digital crown passes through eight steps between the scan and the seat. Five happen at the practice or in transit, and three at the bench.
At each handoff, one side gives the other something it needs. A crown is late or wrong when one of those is missing.
This guide follows a lab-made crown through every step, then shows how the same-day route differs.
The eight steps at a glance
Eight steps from the scan to the seat
A flow of the eight steps of a lab-made digital crown, with where each happens and what is handed on: prepare and scan, write the Rx, send the case, check the case in, design, make and finish, ship and receive, and seat and report back.
Prepare and scan
Handed on: a complete set of scans.
Practice
Write the Rx
Handed on: tooth, material, shade and dates.
Practice
Send the case
Handed on: the scans, the Rx and the photos together.
Practice to lab
Check the case in
Handed on: a receipt, and any question.
Lab
Design
Handed on: a design, and sometimes a preview.
Lab
Make and finish
Handed on: the crown.
Lab
Ship and receive
Handed on: the crown, and notice that it is coming.
Lab to practice
Seat and report back
Handed on: how it fitted.
Practice
It is tempting to stop at step seven. Step eight is the one that improves the next crown.
At the practice: scan, Rx and send
1. Prepare and scan
The scan is the lab’s only view of the tooth. Three scans make a set: the prepared arch, the opposing arch and the bite.
Check it on screen before the patient leaves. The margin should be visible all the way round, with no holes in the preparation.
Check the room above the preparation too. The material needs a minimum thickness, and the lab cannot add space.
A scan taken before the preparation helps too. It shows the lab the shape the tooth had.
2. Write the Rx
The Rx answers what the scan cannot. Which tooth, what material, what shade, how the bite should meet, and when.
Write it while the patient is still in the chair. The shade and the photos are easiest to get right then.
How to write a crown Rx your lab never has to call about goes field by field.
3. Send the case
Send the scans, the Rx and the photos as one case. Files that travel apart have to be matched by hand at the other end.
Use the route you have agreed with that lab. How to send intraoral scans to a dental lab covers the options.
Book the seat appointment against the lab’s date for scanned cases, with a gap.
At the lab: check in, design and make
4. Check the case in
A digital case can be opened minutes after it is sent. A good lab does that the same day.
The technician checks the files against the Rx. Is the margin clear, is the bite there, is anything missing.
The lab then tells the practice what it received and when the crown will ship. A question at this point costs a message.
5. Design
The technician marks the margin on the scan and designs the crown in software. This is CAD/CAM dentistry in practice.
The design sets the contacts, the bite and the shape. The dentist’s preferences on file shape all three.
Some cases get a preview. The lab sends an image of the design, and the dentist approves it or asks for a change.
A preview adds a day if it waits in an inbox. Agree which cases need one, and review it the day it arrives.
6. Make and finish
The design is turned into a crown. For many materials that means milling it from a block.
Zirconia is then hardened in a furnace, a step called sintering. After that come staining, glazing and polishing.
A front tooth may be finished by hand, with porcelain layered over a milled core.
The crown is checked against the design, and against a printed model if the lab uses one.
Back to the practice: ship, seat and report
7. Ship and receive
The lab tells the practice the crown is on its way. The practice opens the box the day it lands.
Match it to the patient and the appointment, and mark it received. A crown in a sealed box is a crown nobody knows about.
Check it against the Rx on arrival. The morning of the seat is too late to find the wrong shade.
8. Seat and report back
The dentist tries the crown in, checks the contacts, the bite and the shade, and seats it.
Then someone tells the lab how it went. One line is enough: seated as it came, or what needed adjusting.
How to give your dental lab feedback has a two-minute form for this.
Where the time goes
The steps themselves are short. The time is in the gaps between them.
| Gap | What fills it | How to shorten it |
|---|---|---|
| Scan to send | The Rx waits to be written | Write it at the chair |
| Send to check-in | The case waits in a queue | Ask the lab when it checks new cases |
| A question | The dentist is with patients | Answer the same day, in writing |
| Design to approval | A preview sits unread | Review it the day it arrives |
| Ship to seat | Delivery, and the booking gap | Book against the lab’s date |
The third row is the one a practice controls most. A question answered in an hour costs nothing, and one answered on Thursday costs the date.
Dental lab turnaround times shows how to turn a lab’s schedule into a seat date.
The same-day route
A practice with a mill runs steps one to six itself, in one visit.
Dr. Joel Gaudet, the dentist who founded Tusko, describes how he books it:
“I book them for about an hour and a half. I get them numb and prepare the tooth, then for the next hour they put headphones on and watch a show while I design the crown and the machine mills it. Then I come back in and pop it in.”
Dr. Joel Gaudet, Wave Dentistry
Nothing is sent, so nothing can be lost in transit. The design, the mill and any remake are now the practice’s own work.
Same-day crowns vs lab crowns covers which cases suit each route.
Where a digital crown goes wrong
The same few faults account for many late or remade crowns.
- A margin the scan did not capture. The lab guesses, or stops to ask.
- No bite scan. The arches cannot be related, and the crown comes back high or short.
- A thin Rx. No shade, no material or no date.
- Files and Rx sent separately. Someone has to match them, and sometimes cannot.
- A question nobody answered. The case waits, and the date does not.
- A crown that arrived unrecorded. It was in the building the whole time.
Every one of these is a handoff, and every one has a simple check. Why dental lab cases go missing follows them in detail.
One case from start to finish
The workflow is smoothest when all eight steps happen on one record. The scan, the Rx, the question, the design and the outcome sit together.
That is what Tusko is for. The practice sends the Rx with the scans, the lab works the case, and both see the same status until it is seated.
See how it looks for practices and for labs.
For the wider choice between making work yourself and sending it out, read in-house dental lab vs outsourcing.
How long does a digital crown take from scan to seat?
A crown made in the practice can be seated the same visit. A crown made by a lab takes the lab’s working days, plus delivery and a gap before the appointment. Ask your lab for its schedule for scanned cases.
Does a lab need a model for a digital crown?
Often not. Many single crowns are designed and milled from the scan alone. A lab may print a model to check contacts or to finish by hand, so ask what it does.
Can the dentist see the design before the crown is made?
Some labs offer a design preview on request. It adds a step and an approval, so agree in advance which cases need one and how quickly it will be reviewed.
What files does the lab need?
The prepared arch, the opposing arch and the bite, in the format the lab asked for, with the Rx and shade photos. Without the bite, the two arches cannot be related.
Related guides
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A digital impression reaches the dental lab in minutes and needs no model poured. Here is what changes at intake and at the bench, and what stays the same.