Raised in Japan, Yoshi is the vice president at Kuwata Pan Dent, where he was hired back in 1980. He takes great pride when the lab’s work makes doctors and patients happy. He sees negative feedback as an opportunity to learn and positive feedback as motivation. Founded in 1976, by Masahiro Kuwata, Kuwata Pan Dent has maintained a tradition of excellence, creating restorations that are fabricated to meet the highest of standards.

Yoshinobu Umeda, CDT, RDT

Advances in materials and technologies have dramatically changed the way dental laboratories operate. Milling machines, scanners, 3D printers, and the realm of materials used with them, are offering new approaches to familiar challenges, and new levels of accuracy and efficiency for everyday processes.

With these new systems and materials comes a whole new way of doing things in terms of workflows and capabilities that totally reshape what a dental lab can look like. One way to put these innovations in the spotlight is to take a look at what they replaced. It’s easy to get used to a comfortable and effective daily workflow, and sometimes it may even seem there’s no need for change. But once something new is brought to the lab world designed to save time, enhance results, or otherwise make things better, it’s easy to move forward from the way things were.

This article (and its online components at dentalproductsreport.com) puts some of those former favorites front and center a final time, as dental laboratory professionals share stories of things they once used day in and day out but no longer need due to innovations that make practicing dentistry better for everyone.

Today, the shift to monolithic zirconia solutions is complete. The latest advancements in zirconia production are now combining strength and esthetics.

Alloy to Zirconia … the Products We Left Behind!  

The author's choice for the new product that will help transcend the dental lab  industry is the Ivotion system by Ivoclar Vivadent.

Ivotion, the Preferred Digital Denture System

Articles


Metal free restorative materials and digital dentures have changed the way dental labs work with clinicians and has opened up a whole new set of workflows.
