Murphy's Law: 3D CAD/CAM Dental Laboratory Design
Murphy's Law: 3D CAD/CAM Dental Laboratory Design
Warning !!! This is sort of a self-serving column. OK, actually I'm serving my wife in a column
And I sort of lied about the CAD/CAM. It is just CAD - no CAM
As many of you know (especially after JDT's January feature on who's hot in the laboratory industry) my wife, Denice, has been involved in dental laboratory and office design for several years. Her first projects were the design and build of our dental office (1996) and a redesign of DTI Precision Dental Lab in Jackson, Mich. Now suspend judgment here for a moment about me using this column to promote her business. I really want you to just see what is possible using the 3D technology we have at our disposal today.
3D design for space planning allows you to create your project in a virtual reality environment on the computer. Denice used this type of software regularly when she worked for a large architecture and engineering firm in Detroit called Albert Kahn and Associates. Like so many other technological advances, it takes a while before they get applied to healthcare, dentistry and more specifically, the dental laboratory profession. You can walk through this virtual laboratory and make changes before you actually start to build. In fact, you can even delineate the décor, furnishings, fixtures and furniture in such detail that you can barely tell the real from the 3D renderings.
The renderings give you an excellent feel for how the finished spaces will look. Sami Yared, CDT, of YDL Dental Lab in Carrolton, Texas, collaborated on a project with my wife last year when he moved his laboratory. He only had eigh weeks to complete the project from the time they got occupancy of the new space and until Sami had to be out of his old laboratory. Surprisingly, they were in seven days early. It would have been nearly impossible to get this design and build completed on time without a clear vision of how the finished project would look. This unique software, one site visit before design was done and great e-mail and phone communication allowed Sami and Denice to feel like they were working side by side instead of in Texas and Michigan. What a small world it has become. By including everything from space planning bubble diagrams to the finishes, furniture and fixtures that were detailed, changes could be completed before construction began. That saved significant time and money for Sami.
For the full story on how this project went from start to finish, go to http://funktionaldesigngroup.com and click on portfolio. Browse through the still shots and walk through the 3D video for more detail. There is even a nine-minute National Lab Network video clip of me interviewing Sami and Denice (click on the testimonial section to view it). It was great fun. There are other commercial projects and a dental office you can walk through online.
CAD/CAM isn't just for restorations anymore. Ask your design team to build it in the computer first. It will save you time and money - in fact, much more than the cost of the 3D CAD rendering.
