When the crown leaves the clinic: clinics and labs on one platform
A dentist preps tooth 21, takes the impression, picks shade A2, and writes "zirconia crown" on a slip. The impression goes into a bag, the bag goes to the lab, and from that moment the case lives in two places at once: the clinic's memory and the lab's workbench.
Most of the friction between clinics and labs happens in the gap between those two places. This post follows one case through that gap, from both sides of the order, and looks at what keeps it from falling in.
Where a case usually gets lost
Ask any lab owner or any dentist about the other side, and you will hear the same small stories.
- The order slip is photographed and sent on WhatsApp. The photo is blurry, and the shade could be A2 or A3.
- The patient is booked for the fitting on Tuesday. On Monday afternoon, the receptionist calls the lab to ask "is it ready?" The technician who knows is busy, so someone calls back later.
- The lab keeps what each doctor owes in a notebook. The clinic keeps what it owes each lab in a different notebook. At the end of the month, the two numbers don't match, and nobody can say which delivery is missing.
None of this is anyone's fault. It is what happens when an order is a piece of paper and its status is whatever the last phone call said.
What a good lab order holds
Whatever system you use, the order itself is where most problems start or end. A good one answers every question the technician would otherwise have to call about:
- Which tooth, by number, and how many units.
- The restoration type: crown, bridge, veneer, and so on.
- The material and the shade, written, never only in a photo.
- The due date, set from the patient's fitting visit, not "as soon as possible".
- Notes on anything unusual, and who to ask if something is unclear.
Two habits help just as much. Agree on one channel for orders and questions, so nothing is split between a phone, a notebook, and someone's memory. And record every delivery and every payment on the day it happens, on both sides, so the monthly balance is a check rather than an argument.
On the clinic side: the order starts at the tooth
In Naab, a lab order doesn't start on a separate form. It starts on the treatment line in the patient's chart. The dentist places a crown on tooth 21, then opens a lab order from that line with the tooth, shade, material, number of units, and restoration type already tied to the patient and the plan. The order can also be printed as a PDF.
Each lab you work with has a place in the lab directory, with its contact details, its orders, what you owe it, and what you have paid. That replaces the second notebook. Lab orders are part of the clinical chart on Professional and above.
Here is the part worth being precise about. If the lab also uses Naab, you can connect to it, and your order becomes a case on the lab's own board. As the lab moves it through production, you see its progress from the clinic. If the lab isn't on Naab, you still get a clean order, the PDF, the debt, and the payments on your side, and you can message the lab on WhatsApp or email from its page. But you won't see its production steps, because they happen in a system you can't see.
On the lab side: a board instead of a pile
A lab workspace in Naab is built around orders and the doctors who send them. Every case sits on a Kanban board, in a column for its current step, so the whole lab can see what is waiting, what is in production, and what is ready to go out.
The steps come from your own workflows. A zirconia crown might go through design, milling, sintering, and finishing, and a different restoration type might follow a different path. Each step can be assigned to the technicians who do it, so it is always clear whose turn a case is waiting for.
Your catalog of materials, restoration types, and shades lives in the same place, so orders use the same names every time. When an order request arrives, the lab accepts it or rejects it with a reason. A rejected case with a written reason is a much shorter conversation than a phone call that starts with "we have a problem with your impression".
Keeping doctors informed, on Naab or not
Not every doctor a lab works with runs their clinic on Naab, and they don't have to. A doctor can follow their cases in a portal that shows the timeline, the due date, the price, and the current step. Doctors who aren't on Naab get a guest link, or scan a QR code, to submit and track cases without setting up a clinic of their own.
With WhatsApp connected, the lab can send updates when something happens to a case: when it is accepted, delivered, or returned, and a reminder before its due date. That is the message the receptionist would otherwise have to call for, arriving without anyone asking.
On the money side, the lab issues invoices to its doctors and can take cheques against them (cheques are on Professional and above). Each doctor's balance is on their record, so the end of the month starts from the same numbers for everyone.
Where to start
You don't need to move every lab or every doctor at once. If you are a clinic, start by writing complete orders and recording lab payments the day they happen. If you are a lab, start by putting every open case on one board, with a due date, before you add workflows.
When both sides are on Naab, the case finally lives in one place, and the clinic can see the crown after it leaves the building. You can read more about the lab side on the page for labs.