5 Things your Technician Wished You Knew – PDP074

'An average Dentist working with an excellent Technician can go very far', was the message my old training program director gave me. Technicians are often the unsung heroes whilst the Dentists collect all the praise and accolades. Who do we blame when things go wrong? Our technician, of course! Not fair at all - this is why I welcomed RDT Graham Entwhistle of Trueform Dental Laboratory to air his frustrations at Dentists - you will pick up some great tips here to improve your working relationship with your dental technician! https://youtu.be/NRDdRCg-9QI How to work better with your dental technician Need to Read it? Check out the Full Episode Transcript below! Protrusive Dental Pearl: Use websites like Loom or even Whatsapp to communicate with video and voice with your technician. Great, clear communication will ensure expectations are met for both parties. SPOILER - the 5 things that Technicians wished we Dentists knew: * Dentists need to improve their communication! Back to basics - if you want better work, you have to fill a better prescription form. Even just the lack of basic info drives technicians mad! We also discussed about Ivoclar Ingots for your ceramic * Make sure your tooth preparation is appropriate for your material selection! Decide the material BEFORE you prep the tooth! * Your impressions need to be clearer please! Do you always check for distortions, drags or voids? Could you consider trying Impregum? * Shade guides - they can vary and can discolour over time. It's important to ensure the shade guide matches your technician's and the materials they use. Acrylic shade guides will discolour over time! We share some shade taking advice for Dentists * Do you etch your own ceramic? If not, why not? Take control of your bonding, consider etching yourself to prevent ceramic over-etching. You can't hold your technician accountable for your bond strength! Check our Graham's work on Instagram! If you liked this episode, you will also enjoy the classic with Jason Smithson on eMax Onlays and Vertical preps! Click here for Full Episode Transcription: Opening Snippet: So do you trust your tech and if you ask for your etching to be done in the lab and then obviously the ultrasonic clean everything here but you're gonna hold me accountable for your bond because i've done the etch but then you've tried it in and you've had to re-etch i don't think your tech should ever be accountable for your bond i think that should be down to yourselves and when it comes to itching again back to communication tell me what you want and I'll do it... Jaz’s Introduction:When I was a foundation dentist, my training program director was Raj Rattan who some of you may have heard of his speeches, his stories are famous in the dental circles. He was a great guy, and he gave some really good advice to me. He said, ‘Jaz make sure you pick your technician very carefully.’ Because an average dentist with a good technician can go very far.