Alginate vs 3D CAD/CAM Scanner Costs
Following up on Nick’s scanner training on Thursday, October 3, 2019, Blue assembled the cost analysis report below from various industry and government sourcing.
The full article is below or if you would like a printable version to send to a customer, click here for the PDF document: Alginate vs 3D Scanner Costs.
Ask most Dentists the cost of alginate impressions and they’ll average the cost of supplies completel
y missing big cost factors involved. Estimated time for cord or retraction paste placement and setup, then mixing the alginate and syringing and seating the alginate tray and finally setting time followed by the final evaluation, you spending an approximation of 18 minutes of chair time for one patient. Assuming you have a daily production goal that is at least 3 times your personal salary, then you are expecting a daily 8-h
our production goal of $3500 for a day then the cost for one impression is about $131.25 in labor and an additional $9.00 for materials. Based on this data, assuming everything goes perfectly with each impression, then the cost for each is about $140.25.
Data from 2013 shows an average of 384 impressions per year per dental office, which translates to an annual cost of $53,856.00 for impressions, or for perspective $538,560.00 every ten years. Reliable impression materials, stored properly, and mixed properly can help ensure that the above costs aren’t higher although the preferred method of saving time might simply be avoiding the use of alginate altogether.
3D Scanner systems offer a minimum 4-minute IOS full arch impression scan to a maximum of 8 minutes depending on the system used. Scans are taken and uploaded to the provider’s cloud servers and used by the labs for milling. Some units are proprietary while others are stand-alone and provide an STL file that can be s
ent to just about any lab. Offices performing a lot of crowns may want to invest in a milling unit. Some Scanner manufacturers produce milling units that are paired with their scanners for that purpose.
Costs of cad / cam scanners do vary greatly and can range from $7k refurbished to well over six figures new unit complete setup. Options for some CBCT 3D x-ray units include the STL type scan offering an all in one device further reducing time spent for impressions. Almost all 3D cad/cam scanners will require a monthly data service fee and licensing usually ranging from $2 to $4k per year. Cost of a mid-range Scanner averaged with the highest annual fees would be about $34,000 upfront total or averaged over 5 years adding $4k for 4 additional years would come to $11,500 per year (without in house milling or calculating lab costs). As an added perspective, the scanner allows you to reduce chair time to 6 min avg per scan, a reduction by one third, or translated to dollars; $43.75 per scan or $16,800 per year plus the $11,500 for a total annual cost of $28,300 which is a total savings of $25,556.00 per year. This does not account for additional revenue available from the time saved allowing the office to see more patients.
If higher ROI, quicker turn around for your patient and your personal goals fit the production levels, then a cad/cam scanner would be a wise investment. Speak to a Dental Planet representative today about affordable options to help you shine. 866-815-7606.