The digital workflow in a dental laboratory changes how a restoration is produced. The scan replaces the plaster, the file replaces the parcel, and each step connects to the next. The chain still has to hold, from the first scan received to delivery. Here are the seven steps that structure that flow, and what is at stake at each one for your production.

The movement runs deep. The sector is consolidating: according to l'Information Dentaire, France counts close to 3,600 laboratories for 18,100 people working in them. To hold up under that pressure, laboratories are industrializing production. Digital becomes the way to produce more, and better, without hiring at every peak. Each link still has to be mastered.

Step 1: Receiving impressions without multiplying portals

Everything starts at reception. The dentist scans, then sends the impression through the scanner's cloud. The problem is that each brand has its own. An active laboratory handles dozens of cases a day, spread across several portals to watch.

The number of brands keeps rising. According to Mordor Intelligence, the intraoral scanner market is growing at around 11% a year over 2026-2031. More brands in circulation means more clouds to check, whatever the case volume.

So the first step of a clean flow is to stop chasing portals. Every manual login is time lost and a chance to forget a case. The aim is simple. A scanned impression should reach the laboratory without anyone going to fetch it.

The cost of that juggling is concrete. A forgotten credential blocks a case, a portal outage delays a delivery. Each brand adds a password, an interface and a different habit. The technician spends time searching instead of producing.

Step 2: Bringing every brand's scans together

Receiving is not enough. The impressions have to be gathered in one place, whatever their origin. That is the job of centralized reception, often called a universal inbox. It gathers cases from every scanner into a single work queue.

The logic already exists on the tooling side. Connectors can feed one cloud's cases into the laboratory's management system. The technician no longer juggles interfaces. They work from a single list, sorted and current.

Centralizing also changes oversight. A production manager sees at a glance what has arrived, what is under way and what is waiting. DigiLab announces an inbox that receives up to 9 scanners on the market in one interface. The idea stays the same whatever the solution. One entry point, not eight.

Centralizing also lightens the mental load. Nobody wonders any more whether a case is sitting on a cloud nobody checked. Everything that arrives is visible in the same place, in the same order. That simplicity serves the sole technician as much as the multi-site laboratory.

Step 3: Checking and viewing the impression before producing

An impression received is not an impression you can work with. Before starting the design, the technician has to open the scan, look at it and check its quality. A 3D viewer in the browser avoids installing one program per brand for that simple check.

Watch the manufacturer clouds, which do not all offer the same access. 3Shape Communicate does carry cases, but working with them requires a 3Shape Dental System or Unite license and the STL export option enabled on the dongle. Without it, the laboratory can view the impression without being able to retrieve it. Medit Link, for its part, is an open cloud on export, with STL files coming out freely for the laboratory retrieving them.

This step decides what follows. An incomplete scan caught early avoids a failed restoration and a round trip with the practice. Checking before producing means stopping errors at the entrance rather than at delivery.

A shared viewer also feeds the dialogue with the practice. The technician can point to a blurred area or a margin that reads badly. The correction is asked for before production, not after. That way no restoration gets designed on an incomplete impression.

Step 4: Designing the restoration in CAD

Computer-aided design is the heart of the flow. From the approved impression, the technician models the crown, the bridge or the guide. This is where trade knowledge meets the digital tool.

The framework is CAD/CAM. You use CAD to design, then CAM to manufacture. Design happens in dedicated software, such as Exocad, from the file received. The closer the impression arrives to a format that opens directly, the less time goes into conversions.

This is where the flow's smoothness really shows. If the dentist, the patient reference and the case detail have to be typed again before designing, each case costs a few minutes too many. Multiplied by dozens of cases a day, those minutes become hours. A good flow carries the case through to the CAD software with no re-keying.

The input format weighs heavily on that comfort. A clean STL file or a project that opens directly saves time. A preview you cannot work with, by contrast, forces you to ask for the impression again. So smooth design begins at reception.

Step 5: Manufacturing in CAM with no break in the file

Once the restoration is designed, manufacturing takes over. CAM drives the milling or the 3D printing from the digital model. This is the step where the file becomes a physical object again.

The chain is meant to be continuous. Dental CAD/CAM covers scanning, design and manufacturing in one movement. Every manual transfer between programs is a chance for an error or a delay. The point is to keep the same file end to end.

Production then gains in regularity. A flow with no break means fewer remakes and more predictable turnaround. The laboratory owner can commit to a delivery date with more confidence. Digital manufacturing keeps its promises when nothing breaks upstream.

This step also opens the field. Milling zirconia, printing models or splints: the same file feeds several machines. The choice of material and technique remains trade knowledge. Digital only makes the passage from model to object more reliable.

Step 6: Tracking production and tracing every case

Producing fast is not enough if you no longer know where each case stands. The sixth step makes production visible. Statuses, due dates, who owns each case: all of it should read without opening ten folders.

Traceability is part of the trade. Management tools make it possible to follow a restoration's path from design to manufacturing. Each case keeps its history, which also helps in the event of a remake or a complaint.

Oversight rests on that visibility. CAD/CAM and management software structure production in the laboratory day to day. A shared tracking board replaces scattered exchanges and chasing by phone. The manager knows what to start, what to chase and what to deliver, in real time.

Messaging with the dentist completes that tracking. A question about a shade or a due date is handled inside the case file. Information no longer gets lost in emails or calls. Everyone finds the history attached to the right case.

Step 7: Securing and archiving health data

An impression is health data. So the last step of the flow is not delivery, but security. Storing and archiving these files requires a precise framework, often underestimated in small laboratories.

In France, hosting health data means using a certified provider, as the Agence du Numérique en Santé sets out. The obligation comes from article L.1111-8 of the Code de la santé publique, the French public health code. It applies whatever tool is used to receive and handle the impressions.

A serious digital workflow builds that requirement in from the start. DigiLab puts forward HDS hosting in France and medical-grade encryption. Security is not a box to tick at the end of the route. It protects your patients, your clients and your liability.

Archiving belongs to the long run. A restoration is a custom-made medical device whose traceability has to be recoverable. Secure, organized storage saves you from rebuilding a file under pressure. Compliance then becomes an asset of trust rather than one more constraint.

FAQ

What is the digital workflow in a dental laboratory?

It is the chain that links the intraoral scan received from the practice to the restoration manufactured and delivered. The impression travels as a file, from the scanner's cloud to the laboratory's CAD and management software. The aim is to remove the plaster, the parcel and the re-keying between each step.

Do you need one scanner per brand to receive every impression?

No. The laboratory does not scan; the practices send their impressions from a range of brands. Centralized reception gathers those cases into a single interface, without multiplying portals. That saves you watching a different cloud for every scanner your dentists use.

Does the digital workflow force you to change CAD software?

Not necessarily. A good flow carries the impression through to your existing design software, such as Exocad, in a format that opens directly. The point is to connect reception to your current tools, not to replace everything. Check the formats and connectors offered before committing.

How does the digital workflow secure health data?

In France, impressions have to be hosted with an HDS-certified provider, under article L.1111-8 of the Code de la santé publique. A reliable flow provides for hosting in France, file encryption and an access audit trail. Those guarantees protect the laboratory and its patients all along the route.

Conclusion

The digital workflow in a dental laboratory is not one technology. It is a sequence of seven steps that have to hold together, from receiving the scan to archiving health data. Every break between two links costs time, errors and peace of mind. Every connection done well, by contrast, makes production faster and more predictable.

The right reflex is to look at your chain as a whole. Where does the impression stop? Where do you have to re-key, convert or go and fetch a file? Those friction points are what slow your laboratory down, not digital in itself. A continuous flow changes production because it removes them one by one.

Want to test an end-to-end digital workflow on your own cases? Try DigiLab free with 100 cases over 14 days, no commitment. The detail of the features and pricing sets out what connects to your scanners and to your CAD software.

The Digilab team